


Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

by TJDNFORTHEWIN



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alpha!Jack, Alpha!North, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta!Bunny, Beta!Jamie, Fluff, Hiccup has been brainwashed, Jack is hurt, Jack is just trying to be nice, Just read something that gave me inspiration, M/M, Molestation, Omega!Tooth, Romantic Soulmates, Scared!Hiccup, Sexual Tension, This has nothing to do with the youtube series 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared', This is coming from the top of my head, heat - Freeform, omega!Hiccup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-14 10:23:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 31,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5740048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJDNFORTHEWIN/pseuds/TJDNFORTHEWIN
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup was raised to believe that all alphas are dangerous. The only thing they want is to take advantage of a weak omega, with no regards for your feelings at all. So Hiccup avoids alphas at all times, and spends his heats at an abandoned cabin in the woods, far from any greedy alphas.</p><p>Jack is new in town, starting his own practice as a psychologist, and recovering from a traumatizing incident with his little cousin. He's getting some very harsh treatment from his neighbour though, which is really not appreciated. As a psychologist, he will find out what is going on. One way or another.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Life of Hiccup

Hiccup’s days were normal enough. He would wake up in his too spacious room and glance at his bedside clock, which would always read 8:00, and wonder why his body couldn't let him sleep those extra 30 minutes until he actually had to get up.

He would close his eyes and try and recapture that amazing dream that had slipped out of his grasp at the last moment, then promptly open his eyes and give up. Never in his entire life had he ever dreamed the same thing twice. Once it was gone, it was never coming back.

He would swing his legs out from under his forest green comforter, and step onto his dirt brown carpet. Everything in his room was made to make him feel like he was in the forest, from his walls, that were painted the exact colour of the mid-afternoon sky, to his desk chair, that was actually made out of a tree trunk, the bark still on and everything.

Hiccup would blink his eyes a couple of times, then slowly get up and walk to the bathroom to freshen up. He would look in the mirror and smile at his reflection, because the best way to start the day is with a smile, and who better to smile at than himself?

He would wash his face and brush his teeth, then climb into the shower for exactly 15 minutes. That way he had 5 minutes to actually wash himself, and 10 minutes to just sit (yes, he actually sits on the shower floor) and allow the water to flow over him. This was his favourite part of the day, and he always enjoyed it.

Once he was finished soaking, he would get out of the shower, dry himself, put on lotion, and walk back into his room to dress up. Dressing up was a simple task, as he wore virtually the same thing everyday. A pair of sweatpants/jogging pants with a t-shirt. He wore all sorts of colours, depending on what he felt like that day. Today, it was brown sweatpants and a green long sleeved shirt. He was feeling forest-y.

He would walk downstairs and turn right to enter his spacious kitchen. His mother never woke up earlier than 10:00, so there was never anyone cooking, and he never had to make her breakfast. He would glance in the fridge and decide what to make based on its contents. Usually, it was just scrambled eggs with whatever meat he could find. Today, it was scrambled eggs and hot dogs.

After breakfast, it was time for sketching. Hiccup had been homeschooled all his life, his mother very protective about certain issue, and at 20 years of age, he had graduated with a bachelor’s degree in the Arts. Now, he spends his days sketching, reading, writing, cooking, and just finding ways to get over his boredom.  
Hiccup almost never left the house. Once a day he would take a walk in his backyard with 15 ft high fences, and every Wednesday at exactly 1:30 pm, he would take take the 15 minute walk to the grocery store to shop. He always got there at exactly 1:45, because this was the exact time when there were only Omegas on shift. He would shop for exactly 1 hour, go to the cashier at aisle 5, and leave at exactly 3:00. Then he would take the 15 minute walk home, and arrive at exactly 3:15.

These were necessities, otherwise Hiccup would not risk his safety to walk the streets. The only other time he would leave the house was when he had his heat. Every two months, his mother would let him take her precious Cadillac to an ‘abandoned’ cabin in the woods, where he would spend his heat. This was so that no predatory Alphas could come knocking on his door while he was practically immobile and take advantage of him.

All in all, Hiccup lived a very sheltered life. It was okay. He was quite rich, so he had lots of things to entertain himself with, and he never had to worry about waking up early (if only his body would let him sleep!). But, the one thing he really wanted was for his mother to truly acknowledge him. Ever since he could remember, his mother had been distant. It was not like he couldn't handle it, but once in awhile, he would just crave a loving hug, or a simple ‘good morning Hiccup’, or even just a smile.

Hiccup sighed as he looked up from his sketchbook. No point complaining about it. That never did him any good. Crying was for the weak, and no matter what anybody believed about Omegas, Hiccup was not weak. That was one advantage he had over the Alphas at least.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup had been drawing in his sketchbook for almost 2 hours now, and he still wasn’t satisfied. It was a picture of his pet snake, Toothless. Toothless was a 5 ft long California Kingsnake, and was very unique because he was all black.

 

Hiccup got him right after he graduated university, because he wanted a companion that he could talk to without knowing that they were intentionally ignoring him. He would have gotten a dog or a cat or a rabbit or anything, but his mom was apparently allergic to anything cute, so he settled for a snake, and the silent satisfaction he got whenever she saw him and screamed.

 

Hiccup stared at Toothless, then looked back to his drawing. He groaned in frustration. Toothless’ body was all wrong! His tail was way to thick, and his head was too small, there wasn’t enough space for his eyes! Why was drawing a snake so hard!

 

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from downstairs. Hiccup jumped, and his pencil drew a line straight through the middle of Toothless’ body. He sighed and got up from his seat, deciding to go check out the noise instead of sitting here and possibly pulling his hair out.

 

Hiccup opened his door and went down the stairs cautiously, the house eerily quiet after all of that noise. He stepped into the kitchen and found his mother staring wide eyed out of one of the kitchen windows, and a frying pan discarded on the floor. The window was open slightly, and Hiccup’s mother was shaking.

 

“Mom? Are you okay? What happened?” Hiccup asked, quickly walking over to his mother. His mother didn’t even look at him, just slowly pointed out the window.

 

“Someone’s moving in.” She said, just above a whisper. Hiccup glanced out the window, seeing a moving truck and some boxes right outside the house next door. There were a couple of movers going in and out (all of them were betas), but nothing seemed alarming about the scene.

 

“Yeah so, what’s the problem? We do have some neighbors mom. Not many, but a few.” Hiccup informed his mother. She never left the house (that he knew of) so maybe she didn’t know. There was one old lady - omega, a married couple - betas, and a mother and her niece - omega and beta. He had assumed that that was the reason his mother had bought the house 6 years ago.

 

“It isn’t the fact that someone moved in. It’s who moved in that’s the problem.” His mother whispered, still staring unmoving out the window. Hiccup looked again, and just then someone new came out of the house. They weren’t wearing the movers uniform, so Hiccup guessed they were the person moving in.

 

It was a young man who looked around Hiccup’s age. He was wearing a royal blue sweater and brown jeans, and he had dark brown hair with silver bangs. Hiccup still had no idea what the problem was, until he caught a whiff of the man’s scent, and his blood ran cold.

 

The man was an Alpha. And he was moving in right next to them.


	3. Chapter 3

Hiccup sat with his mother in their living room as they mulled over what they had just seen. As soon as Hiccup had made the realization that there was an Alpha literally 50 ft away from them, he had grabbed his mother by the arm and almost dragged her to the living room on the other side of the house, where they had been sitting for over an hour now.

 

By now, the rapist - sorry, the Alpha, had probably finished moving all his things into his house, so there wasn’t really any need to worry about him at the moment.

 

But the problem was the future. How were they supposed to relax if there was a chance that some pervert was going to break into their home and rape them!

 

“Mom, what are we going to do?” Hiccup asked shakily. All his life, his mother had told him about how cruel Alphas were. How they thought of nothing but sex, and that if you didn’t give it to them, they would take it by force.

 

Hiccup had accepted this completely, and he knew that he would never even go near an Alpha, let alone have sex with one, or allow them to have sex with him. But now that there was an Alpha so close, Hiccup didn’t know what to do.

 

Should they call the police? Should they make him move? Should they move? Was there really no way out of this?

 

“We can’t do anything right now.” Hiccup’s mother spoke suddenly. Hiccup snapped his head up to look at her in disbelief. Their lives were in danger, and she was saying that they couldn’t do anything?!

 

“That Alpha hasn’t made a move yet. He probably doesn’t even know that we exist. If we do anything now, it will just be attracting attention to us. Right now, the best thing we can do is ignore him, and be as invisible as possible. Hopefully, he’ll move on to more interesting targets.”

 

Hiccup was conflicted after his mother’s statement. It made a lot of sense. Why panic when nothing has happened yet? But at the same time, the plan had too many holes in it.

 

What if he did know that they existed, and was just waiting for them to let their guard down, like they were planning to do right now?

 

What if ignoring him was just what he wanted, what if it even turned him on?

 

What if he didn’t want to move on to more interesting targets, maybe he just wanted the overly paranoid mother and son duo who were obviously too panicked to even come up with a proper plan to escape him?!

 

“Mom, that’s not going to work. He probably knows exactly what we are doing at this very moment and is planning accordingly.” Hiccup voiced his scattered thoughts as calmly as he could. “There has to be something that we can do-”

 

“Hiccup!” His mother yelled, cutting him off. Hiccup closed his mouth in surprise. It has been years since his mother yelled at him. Now that he thinks about it, this is the longest conversation he’s had with his mother since they moved into this house 6 years ago.

 

“There is nothing that we can do. We just have to deal with this, okay?” His mother’s voice wavered at the end of her sentence, and Hiccup realized that no matter how calm she sounded, she was just as scared as he was.

 

Hiccup sighed. He reached out and grabbed his mother’s hand, holding it in both of his. “I’m sorry mom. We’ll get through this.” He smiled reassuringly at her. She smiled back at him, and they just sat there, sharing each other’s comfort for a few short sweet seconds.

 

Just then, there was a knock at the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack has come knocking  
> (Ps, would have made it longer, but that would have been another 2 pages on google docs, which is not happening tonight. Chapter 5 coming soon!)

Hiccup tensed and stared at his mother with wide eyes. She stared back at him with the same look and put her finger up to her lips. Hiccup nodded. Whoever was at the door would probably go away if they thought no one was home, and the best way to do that was to stay quiet.

 

Then again, the person at the door could be someone who wasn’t a threat to them. The mailman (never came to the door), a police officer (they didn’t do anything wrong), a relative (really, who would visit them?).

 

So, the person at the door was a threat to them after all.

 

The doorbell rang this time, and Hiccup looked from the door, to his mother, then back to the door. Hiccup’s mother shook her head violently, firmly telling him no. But Hiccup got up anyway, and slowly moved toward the door.

 

It was probably a stupid move. He knew that. He knew he did a lot of stupid things. They say hindsight is 20/20, but Hiccup was probably blind in hindsight. He was always making the same mistakes over and over, he never learned from them. In the near future, he would probably be creeping up to doors when more strange people were knocking.

 

Hiccup’s house was quite large, if you hadn’t already gathered, and it was filled with stuff. In the ten ft walk to the door, Hiccup almost tripped over a coffee table, a rug, a broom, a lamp, a basketball (who was playing sports in this house?), and 2 pairs of his own shoes.

 

By the time Hiccup made it to the door, he had already planned his cleaning schedule for tomorrow. This house was always dirty, no matter how much he cleaned it! Now, to see who was knocking.

 

He would just smell out who was there, but his mother had made sure that the house was scent proof. No one outside could smell them. But that also meant that they couldn’t smell anyone outside. So, Hiccup had investigate the old fashioned way. The peep-hole.

 

Hiccup slowly moved as close as he could up to the door, and when he was right in front of it, He squinted his left eye and used his right to peek out the door.

 

And promptly fell on his butt.

 

It was the Alpha from next door.

 

“Hello? Is anyone home? I just wanted to say hello!” The Alpha shouted through the door. Hiccup turned to his mother, who was barely visible from his position, and mouthed “It’s the Alpha.”

 

She looked at him, shaking her head, not understanding him. He mouthed the same thing, over exaggerating each word. She just looked at him, still not getting it. Hiccup almost groaned. Had she not heard him literally shout through the door? Maybe she was getting old.

 

When the next two attempts at relaying his message to her were first of all not received, and second of all accompanied by more yelling by the Alpha, Hiccup simply scrambled over to his mother on all fours and whispered directly into her ear “The Alpha from next door is standing right outside.”

 

Which was probably not a good idea since she screamed at the top of her lungs.

 

Yeah mom, great idea, let the Alpha know were home in the most obvious way possible. Let me just get undressed right now, save him the trouble later.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is making the rounds

Jack took a deep breath of fresh air in, and breathed it out again with a sigh. “This is nice” he thought “finally being outside again.”

 

For the last 3 months, Jack had been cooped up in his best friends stuffy old basement, sorting through files and websites, dedicating all his time to finding a place to start his own practice as a counseling psychologist.

 

He had moved out of his parents house right after an incident he had with his little cousin. He just felt he couldn’t stay there anymore. Even though they kept telling him that it was okay, that Jamie doesn’t hate him, that Jamie’s mom was out of the picture, Jack just couldn’t do it.

 

From then on, he was set on finally becoming a counseling psychologist.

 

So he called up his best friend Aster and asked if he could steal his basement for a few month’s.

 

Jack’s parents had saved up thousands of dollars for his college tuition, but he ended up getting in with a scholarship. So, as a gift for all his hard work, his parents said that when it was time for him to move out, he would get that money doubled. That meant that Jack had $100 000(his parents were crazy savers) to do whatever he wanted(within reason of course).

 

And finally, after 3 gruelling months, his hard work finally paid off. He found a house in a small town called Berk, that had been on the market for 5 years. The person selling it was so desperate to get it off their hands, that they sold it to him for $30 000.

 

After a little shopping for some furniture and appliances, Jack loaded up his 2007 Nissan Altima, called up the movers, and started the 9 hour journey to the small town of Berk.

 

“The house looks even better in than it did on the computer screen.” Jack thinks. He could not believe that he got this house for $30 000.

 

It was a 2 story, with a basement, a ground floor, and a top floor/attic. The exterior was all dark blue, with a white trim, and grey stone for the base and stairs, which lead up to the front door. The windows were huge, which was great, because Jack had a habit of staring outside for long periods of time, and there was even a chimney, which meant there was a fire place!

 

All in all, the house was perfect, and one of the best parts was that it was blue, which was Jack’s favourite colour. He made sure to get lots of blue furniture for the interior, because you can never have too much blue.

 

Jack smiled as he watched the movers move his things into the house, and with a skip in his step, walked in to make sure they put everything exactly where he wanted it.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“Thank you so much Jack! You are a saint! Carrying these groceries gets harder every time. I need to stop buying in bulk.” Elizabeth stated as her and Jack carried her groceries into her home.

 

“It’s no problem. I’m just glad I could be of some help.” Jack said bashfully. He was always so awkward when people said good things about him.

 

After everything was moved into the house, Jack had decided to go around and say hi to the neighbors. There was so few of them, so Jack assumed that they must be curious about who had just moved in.

 

The first house he had visited was to the right of his own, and was inhabited by a lovely beta couple. He had a pleasant little chat with them, and they invited him to come to the dinner party they were having the next week, which he happily agreed to.

 

The next house he visited was directly opposite to that house. The girl that opened the door looked about 15, and had explained that her aunt, who was apparently her legal guardian, was out at the moment, but she would tell her that he stopped by.

 

The next house was the one directly opposite his own home, and that was where he was now. He had knocked on the door to find no one home, but when he turned to leave, Elizabeth’s car pulled up. He had introduced herself, and upon finding out the she had been out grocery shopping, he offered to help her bring them in.

 

“This should be the last one.” Elizabeth announced from where she was hunched over her trunk. Jack immediately rushed over there and took the bag from her. “No need to strain yourself. This is a heavy one.” He said with a smile.

 

She just laughed and shook her head at him. “You are just too eager.” she said, following him into the house.

 

“What can I say, I love helping people.” Jack stated, setting the bag on her kitchen floor with the others. “Do you want me to help you put everything away?” He asked. There were a lot of bags.

 

“Now now Jack, you’ve done enough already.” Elizabeth said. She turned and started rummaging around in one of her bags, pulling out a tin of butter cookies. “Here, take these as a thank you.”

 

Jack opened his mouth to politely decline, but she interrupted him. “And before you say no, just know that I’ve never liked these, and only bought them because they were on sale.” She stated, giving Jack a look.

 

Jack closed his mouth with a smile. Well, there was no arguing with that. “Luckily for you, I love butter cookies, so I’ll be happy to take these off your hands.” He stated simply, taking the tin from her.

 

“It was very nice meeting you Elizabeth, I’ll make sure to come visit you sometimes. Have a great day.” Jack said, giving her a hug.

 

“It was very nice meeting you too Jack, I’m looking forward to your visits. I’ll make sure to have some more butter cookies for you next time.” She replied.

 

Jack laughed and headed outside, shielding his eyes from the sunlight.

 

Three houses down, one more to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being so long, I couldn't add the part from chapter 4. But don't worry, chapter 6 will probably come today, if I don't get sidetracked.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack stood in front of the door of the last house house he had to visit. It was strangely isolated from the rest, almost 50ft to the right of his own home. It had 15 ft high fences!

 

Jack was almost scared to knock on the door.

 

But he did anyway.

 

There was no noise for a couple minutes, but Jack was not giving up. Maybe they didn’t hear his knock.

 

So he rang the doorbell.

 

Again, silence.

 

Jack waited for a couple minutes, then sighed. Either these people weren’t home, or they really didn’t like guests.

 

All of a sudden, there was a loud bump from right beyond the door. Jack’s head perked up. “So they are home.” He thought.

 

“Hello? Is anyone home? I just wanted to say hello!” He shouted. “I just moved into the neighborhood, I just wanted to introduce myself!” He continued.

 

There was some more movement, and then an ear splitting scream.

 

Jack jolted, and his eyes widened. It sounded like a woman. What on earth was happening in there?

 

He started banging on the door. “What’s going on in there?! Are you okay? Open the door!” He shouted.

 

“We’re fine! Just leave us alone!” Jack heard someone shout. It was a man’s voice. So there were two people in there.

 

“Then what was that scream?” Jack replied, more calmly.

 

“It’s none of your business! Just go away!” This time it was a woman’s voice. Probably the woman who screamed.

 

Jack paused. There was something going on in that house. But now was not the time to try and figure it out.

 

So he turned and walked back home, resolved to figure it out. One way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 6! Jack's interest is piqued. Look forward to Chapter 7, for it is a Wednesday, which means Hiccup is going shopping.


	7. Chapter 7

Hiccup glared at his mother. How could she be so stupid as to let the Alpha know they were there? She had basically signed their death wish!

 

Hiccup jumped as the Alpha started banging on the door. His heart was banging just as loud in his chest. Now that he knew they were in there, maybe he was trying to break in.

 

Hiccup was moving in front of his mother to protect her when he heard the Alpha start shouting.

 

“What’s going on in there?! Are you okay? Open the door!”

 

Hiccup paused. Why would the Alpha ask if they were okay? Was he alarmed from Hiccup’s mother’s screaming? But why would he be concerned about their well being? Alphas only cared about themselves.

 

There was only one thing for it. He was trying to lure them into a false sense of security so that they would think he was trying to be nice and then open the door.

 

“We’re fine! Just leave us alone!” Hiccup shouted back. That Alpha couldn’t fool him. He wouldn’t open that door if his life depended on it.

 

“Then what was that scream?” The Alpha asked, and Hiccup could hear the false calmness in his voice. He knew Hiccup was onto him, so he was taking the softer approach. Too bad for him, Hiccup could see right through him.

 

Or hear right through him, since he couldn’t see him.

 

Hiccup opened his mouth to shout back at the Alpha, when he was startled by his mother’s voice.

 

“It’s none of your business! Just go away!” She shouted. Hiccup looked at her in shock.

 

His mother was the weakest person he knew(not that he knew many people) and she had just yelled at an Alpha!(from the safety of her home).

 

Hiccup waited for the responding yell from the Alpha, or worse, the breaking down of the door, but none of that came.

 

There was complete silence from the other side of the door.

 

Hiccup looked to his mother for guidance, but she just shrugged her shoulders. Maybe he left.

 

Hiccup got up and slowly made his way to the door, careful not to trip over anything. He took a look out of the peephole, and found their front porch deserted.

 

So he left. Surprising.

 

Hiccup turned to his mother and shrugged his shoulders. “He seems to have left. Guess he got bored and went back home.” He guessed.

 

His mother smiled in relief. “Well, it didn’t go exactly as planned, but he still left. Now we just have to make sure he doesn’t come back.” she stated.

 

Hiccup nodded. He put a hand over his chest and felt his heartbeat. He realized his breath was coming out shakily, and he focused on getting it under control.

 

Now that everything was over, the shock of having an Alpha so close to assaulting him was settling in, and Hiccup was about ready to collapse.

 

“Mom, what time is it?” He asked, as there was no clock in sight from where he was standing.

 

His mother was still seated on the couch in the living room, so she simply took a glance at the clock on the cable box.

 

“It’s 1:00” She replied. Hiccup sighed. There were still so many hours left in the day.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Hiccup sighed. He was sitting at his dining table, going over his shopping list for the fifth time. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t forgetting even the smallest thing. This was the only shopping he was doing for the week, and if he forgot anything, that was it. No jam for toast.

 

Hiccup sighed again. He was sighing a lot today, he thought with a sigh.

 

Hiccup yawned and glanced at the clock on the wall. 9:00. Perfect time for bed.

 

He gathered up his things and turned left, walking through the kitchen, then turned left again to go up the stairs to his room.

 

He placed his list on his bedside table, and made sure Toothless was in his tank. He searched through his drawers for his pajamas, then sluggishly made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

 

When he finished, he changed his clothes and folded up the ones he was wearing previously, walking back into his room and storing them in his drawer.

 

He slowly climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin with a sigh.

 

Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys.
> 
> I know I said that this chapter would be Hiccup's shopping trip, but I realized that I had not yet continued the door scene in Hiccup's POV
> 
> So chapter 8, for sure, will be the shopping trip.


	8. Chapter 8 (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup and his mother connect before his shopping trip.

Hiccup groaned as he literally rolled out of bed and onto the floor.

 

Shopping day. Yippee

 

This was the day of the week that Hiccup dreaded, because it meant he had to go outside, completely exposed. Vulnerable to any Alpha that wanted him.

 

His mother absolutely refused to give him her car for stupid reasons such as ‘someone could follow it back here’ or ‘you need the exercise’.

 

This was coming from the woman who got her exercise from walking to and from the fridge.

 

Hiccup sighed as he got up off the floor and went about his daily routine.  
Wash his face, brush his teeth, shower, lotion, dress up, feed Toothless, make breakfast, eat breakfast, draw, read, escape boredom in any way possible, etc.

 

Having finished a game of speed against Toothless(basically just him placing cards for the both of them) Hiccup glanced at the clock on his phone, a Samsung Galaxy S5, which read 1:00. 30 minutes ‘till he had to leave. “Might as well start getting ready now,” Hiccup thought.

 

He gathered up the cards neatly and placed them back in the card box, then allowed Toothless to wrap himself around his wrist(he had minor separation issues). He got up from his chair with a groan, and lifted his arms high over his head to stretch, his shirt riding up a bit as he did.

 

His right hand that held Toothless kept close to his waist, he started his search for his ‘shopping gear’ as he liked to call it.

 

Hiccup’s carpet was warm under his feet as he made his way around the room picking up his ‘shopping gear’: a big green cart(to carry the groceries), a thick green sweater and thick black vest(it was a little chilly outside) and a metal baseball bat(his wooden shattered).

 

“HICCUP!” Hiccup flinched, dropping his bat as he heard his mother scream from down the hall. His chest tightened as he raced to her room, all the worst possible scenarios racing through his mind. The hallways grey walls seemed to close in on him, and he burst into his mother’s room, chest heaving……..

 

 

……..to find his mother with her hand stuck in an antique vase.

 

 

Hiccup had to pause in the doorway, just to contemplate life. What was he doing with his life, that he was being punished with this.

 

His mother looked up at him, and a relieved smile spread on her face. “Thank goodness, I was really starting to panic.” She breathed.

 

Hiccup plastered a smile onto his face as he walked onto her black plush carpet, the dark themed room giving him bad vibes. “So was I,” he said, “you sounded like you were dying.”

 

She just shook her head as Hiccup took his time to observe the room. His mother’s room was a place he didn’t enter often, as their relationship had been very one-sided for quite some time. But Hiccup had the feeling that he wouldn’t have come in here often even if they had been closer.

 

The room itself was shaped weird, instead of the usual square or rectangle, it was almost like a plus sign, the walls near the middle of the room being pushed farther in. The walls were painted dark grey with black stripes, even the door. There was a king sized bed pushed into one of the wall crevices, with black covers and at least 6 gray pillows.

 

There was a TV directly opposite the bed, sitting on a black 8-drawer dresser that currently had the top drawer open. At the far side of the room, there was a set of doors that Hiccup guessed(remember, he hasn’t been in here much) led to his mother’s bathroom, which led to her closet. In front of the doors sat a dark red couch, the only colour in the room other than the vase that was currently stuck on his mother’s hand.

 

The vase itself was a brilliant turquoise, shaped like a very fat bottle with a very narrow neck. A very distant memory told Hiccup that the vase had been a gift from Johann, an old friend of his mother’s who had been a frequent traveler. It had been made in Indonesia, simple but elegant patterns adorning it.

 

Hiccup had to wonder how his mother had even fit her hand into the vase, let alone gotten it stuck.

 

“Mom, how did this even happen?” Hiccup asked, walking over to sit on his mother’s couch.

 

She sighed and took a seat on her bed, glaring at the thing on her hand as if it was the vase’s fault it had gotten stuck on her hand.

 

“I was looking through one of my drawers, just sorting through stuff, when I saw a cockroach crawling through my things. I was so shocked that I threw a pendant I had in my hand over my shoulder, and it ended up landing in this vase.” His mother explained, giving an experimental tug on the vase.

 

Hiccup just looked at her. “Why didn’t you just turn the vase upside down so the pendant would drop out?” he asked.

 

His mother opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it, then closed it, then started glaring at a spot on the wall like it had personally offended her.

 

Hiccup had to smile a bit. This was just like his mother, never wanting to admit it when she had done something dumb. I made his chest warm, because it had been forever since he had a long enough interaction with he to see that.

 

“You didn’t think of that.” Hiccup said, stating rather than asking.

 

“It’s not my fault though!” Hiccup’s mother was quick to defend herself “I was just so panicked that I wasn’t thinking. The pendant…...it was a…..present……...from Stoick.”

 

Hiccup froze, but his eyes widened. Stoick. As in Stoick Haddock. As in his father.  
Hiccup had never really known his father, as he had left him and his mother when he was only 4. But from his memories, he recalled him being huge, like a viking. His father and his mother had gotten married in their early 30’s, and had had Hiccup not long after. His mother had never really talked about him, and with him leaving them, Hiccup had always assumed she hated him.

 

“A gift from dad? Why would you keep that? I thought you hated him?” Hiccup asked.

 

Hiccup’s mother sighed and looked longingly at the vase on her hand. Hiccup could almost see the different emotions going through her, the different thoughts running through her head. If she did still love Stoick, Hiccup couldn’t even imagine how hard that must be. Loving a man that mistreated you and left you and your son to fend for yourselves.

 

“I tried to hate him,” his mother started in a small voice, “but I kept remembering the good times we had, all the wonderful things that he did for me, the love that we shared. Instead of resenting him and all the things he left behind, I started to treasure them. That’s why I love this pendant so much.”

 

Valka looked up at her son with a face full of so many emotions it was hard to decipher. Love, anger, confusion, guilt, sorrow, fear, sympathy. These were all the emotions she had felt when her and Stoick’s relationship had fallen to ruins, and she was still feeling them every day she woke up and he wasn’t there holding her.

 

Hiccup got up and walked up to his mother, wrapping her up in a hug filled with all of the emotions he had felt these past years. Loneliness, resentment, confusion, anger, hate, malice, sadness. This hug brought up all these emotions, swirling them all up into a big blob of darkness. Then, in the blink of an eye, it dissipated, and was replaced with pure love.

 

Hiccup pulled back and looked his mother straight in the eyes, communicating in a way they had never done before.

 

“I’ll go get some butter.” He said with a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!  
> I am so sorry this is so late, I was meaning to post this a week after the last chapter, but every time I went to write, I would get a paragraph done and then I would get sidetracked. So, in order to not keep you waiting anymore, I am posting this in 2 parts! Hopefully, part 2 will be here in the next 2 weeks.  
> Enjoy!


	9. Chapter 8(part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup goes shopping. Or, at least he tries to.

“Okay, the vase is finally off.” Hiccup announced. He pace the delicate vase in his hands on his mother’s desk and leaned against it. That was one of the hardest jobs he’d ever had to do.

 

“Thank you Hiccup.” His mother told him with a soft smile on her face. She was cradling the pendant in her hands like it was her newborn child. Now that Hiccup could actually see it, he realized that he actually remembered that pendant. It was very distant memory, but right after his father left Hiccup could remember his mother wearing that pendant day and night, never taking it off unless she had to shower, and even then it would still be sitting right there on the bathroom counter.

 

At one point in his life Hiccup had wished that he would never experience a love like his parents had, one that only caused hate and pain. But, looking at his mother in this very moment, he wished that he would one day find a person the he loved as much as his mother loved his father. Except for them, that love would be mutual.

 

He got up from his chair and headed for the door. “Well, I have to go. The shopping won’t get done on its own.” He told his mother. She nodded but didn’t look up from her pendant.

 

Hiccup smiled and closed the door softly behind him. He raised his arms high up above his head and heard his shoulders give a satisfying pop. “Time for shopping.” He sighed to himself.

 

The warmth of his room when he walked in almost made him want to cry, because he would give anything to just hunker down with his sketchbook and a box of cookies for the rest of the day.

 

His eyes were drawn to his metal baseball bat that had rolled under the table in his hurry to reach his mother. He walked over to his desk and kneeled down, reaching out to grab the bat.

 

The room was a little dark, as the lights were off, so when Hiccup’s phone buzzed with a notification, it was very easy to spot the bright white numbers on his iphone reading the time.

 

A time that read 1:50.

 

20 minutes after he was supposed to have left the house.

 

Hiccup jerked up from his kneeling position, the bat held tightly in his left hand, and stared in disbelief at his cellphone, still glaring those awful numbers at him.

 

He was late. He had never been late before. He always made sure to leave the house at the exact right time, to get there at the exact right time, to shop at the exact right time, for the exact amount of time, to leave at the exact time. This had never happened before.

 

Hiccup quickly shoved the phone in his vest pocket to be freed from the offending numbers. He tried to keep calm and be rational but there was just so much that was out of his hands. There was no way he could just not go shopping, because that would mean they would have no food for the week. Hiccup always bought just enough of the essentials to last them to the next week, as there was no way he could carry anymore.  
But if he did go shopping, he would be over 20 minutes late, meaning the chances of there being staff other than omegas or even betas was extremely high, and he could not imagine entering the store knowing of such danger.

 

He knew there was no way he could just not go, and his body started moving on its own, grabbing his shopping cart, placing the bat inside, petting toothless, exiting his room. The stairs started blurring together into one big mess of brown hardwood, and Hiccup had to hang on tight to the railing to avoid falling down and breaking his face.

 

“It’s fine, I have my bat, I’m pretty strong, I can fight them off, I’ll be fine.” Hiccup chanted to himself. He couldn’t hear other than his own voice as he opened the front door, and didn’t even register the strong gust of wind that blew his hair out of his face.

 

He walked at a brisk pace down the sidewalk, keeping his head down, still chanting. He started breathing in the fresh September air, deep breath in, deep breath out. Slowly his muscles started to relax, his vision cleared and his ears opened.

 

“It’ll be fine.” Hiccup declared with confidence.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“It won’t be fine.” Hiccup declared with confidence (and fear).

 

He had been in the store for less than 10 minutes and he was already ready to bolt. The moment he had stepped through the automatic double doors his nose was assaulted with the strong scent of Alpha. There were at least 3 within 10 ft of the door, and there were probably more scattered around the store.

 

Hiccup knew there would be a difference in staff, but he didn’t think it would be so overwhelming. He quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket and brought out his list, wanting to get this done as soon as possible. Milk was the first thing on his list, so he quickly shuffled over to the dairy section and started picking up some things.

 

The hair on the back of his neck rose and his nostrils flared, an alpha approaching him from behind. He quickly swiveled around, a container of vanilla yogurt clutched in his hand. The alpha was a little shorter than him, and looked to be of asian descent with short black hair. His name tag read Mark.

 

Mark raised his eyebrows and pushed a yellow shopping cart towards him. “I just thought you might want a cart. The store doesn’t allow people to use their own bags until they get to the checkout.” He said, nodding at Hiccup’s own cart.

 

Hiccup nodded and accepted the cart, saying a quiet thank you and turning back around to quickly grab everything he needed.

 

To his dismay, Mark took a step closer. For a quick second, Hiccup considered grabbing the bat, but that would just cause a scene.

 

“If you need any help-,” he started. Hiccup finished loading his cart and flashed a quick smile at him. “No I’m fine.” He said, and quickly sped away to his next destination, awkwardly pushing the cart and pulling his bag at the same time.

 

His heart was pounding so loud he could hear it, and his hands had a white knuckle grip on his things. He was so frantic, he didn’t think to just place his bag in the bigger shopping cart, so when he rounded a corner, he knocked into a display of Ritz crackers and sent them sprawling across the floor.

 

“Oh shit..” He mumbled to himself, and quickly stooped down to try and gather them in a stack that resembled the one he had just knocked down. The heavy scent of alpha assaulted him from the front and made him flinch violently, dropping the boxes he had in his hands.

 

“Are you okay? Let me help.” A deep voice said, and a tall heavily tanned man started to help him pick up the boxes. He had a stern, almost angry expression on his face. To Hiccup, he screamed danger.

 

He quickly stumbled to his feet, bringing his phone out of his pocket and frantically glancing at his mile long list. “Umm, I’m sorry, in a hurry, I would….help, but-shopping, have to..yeah.” Hiccup babbled a random stream of words and made off towards a random aisle in the opposite direction, almost forgetting to grab his two carts.

 

He walked as fast as he could without running through the aisle, glancing at his list but not actually seeing the words, the only thing running through his mind was to get away.

 

With his head down, he didn’t see the alpha coming his way, and could only be completely and utterly overwhelmed when his face ended up buried in the shirt. He scrambled backwards, his unfocused eyes only just making out the sight of his new neighbor reaching out for him, his ears struggling to catch the mumbled words.

 

“Are…...okay?........kind of…… do…..need help?” The voice of the alpha did nothing to console him, just fueled the ever growing panic until Hiccup couldn’t take it anymore. He bolted. He left his shopping cart with his food and his bag with his bat and just ran.

 

He ran all the way to the exit doors and left the store. He ran with the wind rushing past him blowing his hair back and drying his tears just for new ones to return. He ran all the way up his front steps, through his front door and up the stairs to his room. He collapsed, shoes and all, in a curled up pile on his bed and just cried. He cried and cried and shook and cried. Eventually he found the strength to kick of his shoes and get under the covers where he curled up and drifted off to sleep, leaving the panic in the grocery store along with his shopping bag, his food and his pride.

 

He wouldn’t realize until he woke up hours later that he had dropped his phone as well.


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack's POV of the shopping mishap

“So, I need milk, eggs, corn flakes, rice krispies, bacon, bananas, macaroni and cheese, lemons, sugar, raisin bread, ground beef, tomato sauce, spaghetti, rice, soy sauce, and kale.”  
Jack read his shopping list out loud as he typed it into his phone

 

He was sitting in his car that was still parked in his driveway, preparing to go to the grocery store. He hadn’t realized until he got into his car that he forgot to write a shopping list, so he was doing it now. It was pretty easy to make, seeing as his fridge was practically empty.

 

Jack finished his list and closed his phone, placing it in the cup holder. He started the car and pulled out of the driveway, heading for the grocery store. He had seen it on the way to his house, so he was pretty sure he knew how to get there.

 

As he drove, Jack let his thoughts wander a bit. He started to think about his strange neighbors. Everyone else had been so kind to him, so it was a pretty big shock to get such blatant dislike from people he hadn’t even met. All he did was knock and they were screaming at him like he just murdered someone.

 

He couldn’t help thinking that there was something else going on though. The way they were yelling at him, they weren’t just angry, they were scared. As if him just standing on their porch was putting them in danger.

 

He didn’t think he was scary though. He wasn’t that tall, about 5”7, he had muscles, but he was lean, pale skin, dark brown hair with silver bangs. Nothing really scary about him on first glance. Other than the fact that he was an Alpha.

 

Jack knew that Alphas were greatly feared in society. It was unfortunate, but it was natural. A certain group having literal power over the other was bound to end in fear and hate. But Jack was hardly the stereotypical Alpha. Hell, he couldn’t be one if he tried. He had gone through enough of his own stuff, trying to do that to someone else was just impossible.

 

Jack slowly braked his car at a red light, and at that moment My Name Is by Eminem started blaring from his phone. The caller ID read “Bunny”.

 

He quickly swiped the answer button and put his phone on speaker.

 

“Hey Bunny!” He called. “Jackie!” The heavily accented, cheery voice of his best friend filled his ears. It immediately brought a smile to his face.

 

After living with him for so long, it was weird not hearing his voice every 2 hours, let alone everyday. Bunny had really been Jack’s support over the last couple of months. He was the only reason Jack was able to start his own practice. On those days when Jack was so overcome with guilt and self hate that he couldn’t even bring himself to get out of bed, Bunny was there. If Jack didn’t listen to his voice, Bunny would go as far as to physically drag him out of bed and downstairs to eat breakfast and start working. Even when Jack sometimes gave up on himself, Bunny never gave up on him.

 

It was one of the reasons Jack was so reluctant to actually move out of Bunny’s house. He didn’t know whether or not he would be able to carry on normally without having Bunny there to lean on. It got to the point where Jack had almost had a full blown anxiety attack thinking about all the things that could happen if Bunny wasn’t there with him: Forgetting important dates(Jack could be quite forgetful), not getting out of bed in time, missing payments, not eating right, having panic attacks, hurting someone during a panic attack, etc.

 

Really, there was no guarantee that those things would actually happen, and Jack was just trying to come up with reasons why he should put off the move. It wasn’t like he hadn't wanted to start his own practice, but he felt that with him having all of his own problems, he might not be as qualified as he thought he was to start helping other people. How could he help other people if he couldn’t even help himself?

 

Eventually, Bunny had had to step in and give him an hour long talk on all the reasons why he actually was qualified to be a counseling psychologist, starting with the fact that most people in that same field had their own problems anyway. Everyone had their own problems, and just because Jack’s were a bit more dramatic than the average person, that didn’t mean that he couldn't put those aside to help others when it came down to it. “You are hands down the most selfless person I know” Bunny had told him. “And I know for a fact that you would never let your own problems get in the way of solving someone else’s”.

 

After that talk, Jack had taken on a whole new look on the whole situation, and a couple weeks later he had finalized the move. Bunny was Jack’s rock, and even if he was 9 hours away, he would always be by Jack’s side.

 

The loud sound of a car horn startled Jack out of his thoughts, and he quickly put his foot on the gas and continued his drive to the grocery store. “So, what’s up Bunny?” Jack asked, remembering that his friend was still on the phone. “Well, I haven’t spoken to you in what, 2 days? I’ve missed hearing your voice man! How is it over there anyway?” Bunny spoke, sounding a little sad at the fact that Jack was so far away.  
“It’s nicer than I expected it to be,” Jack admitted, “Of course, it is a lot quieter than Burgess, no little kids running around screaming, but it’s very serene. Lots of mountains and huge rock faces, forests, stuff like that. It’s beautiful to look at.”

 

Jack could practically hear the smile on his friend’s face before he asked his next question. “....Anything else that’s beautiful to look at? Maybe a person? I know you’ve only been there for like, a day, but still, these things happen quickly.”

 

Jack sighed fondly as he turned another corner. “Seriously Bunny, that’s the only thing you could think to ask me?” Before Bunny could start protesting, he continued. “Even if I had been here for longer, I probably still wouldn’t have met anyone. This place has a population of like, 1,000, and I only have 4 neighbors, one of which doesn’t even want me here. Like seriously, I knocked on their door yesterday and they actually screamed at me to leave. It’s like they thought I was a serial killer or something.” Jack said, exasperated.

 

Bunny made a resigned sound into the phone. “Well, not everyone is going to be as nice as you,” he started, “Just don’t focus on it. You still have three other neighbors to befriend.”

 

Jack nodded, even though he knew that his friend couldn’t see him. He’d told himself the same thing countless times after the incident, but he couldn’t get those people out of his head.

 

“Well anyway, what are you doing right now?” Bunny asked, quickly changing the subject to something more neutral.

 

“Well, since I literally just got here, I have to go out to buy some groceries, so I’m driving there right now.” Jack explained, making a quick right on a street corner with a cute little cafe. He marked that in his mind for later.

 

“Groceries huh? Make sure to get a lot. You eat like a train.” Bunny joked, and Jack heard some shuffling in the background.

 

“I do not! You just eat like a rabbit, only fruits and vegetables. I eat real food.” Jack rebutted with a pout, and for once he was grateful Bunny wasn’t there to see him.

 

The street up ahead of him was under construction, so Jack sighed and turned left to try and go around. He had thought the store was only 5 minutes away by car, but it seemed like he had already been driving for 30.

 

Jack heard something clatter in the background before he heard Bunny’s voice again, which was filled with a certain haughtiness that he had always hated. “Okay, first of all, I’m not a vegan, I do eat other things than fruits and vegetables, just not in the obscene amount that you do. And second of all, since when is a bag of gummy bears a day real food?” Bunny questioned.

 

Jack didn’t grace his friend with a response, as he finally spotted the grocery store in the distance. “I don’t have time for your lectures, so I’m gonna hang up now.” Jack said, sounding just a little bit like a child, even to his own ears.

 

Bunny huffed through the phone, and Jack could just imagine him shaking his head in disapproval. “Fine, but remember what I said. Don’t let some random people bring you down. And please, for goodness sake, buy some lettuce! At least put it in one of your BHCM sandwiches.” Bunny pleaded

 

“The Bacon-Ham-Cheese-Mushroom sandwich has no room for your lettuce, but I will buy some, just so you don’t stay up all night worrying about my cholesterol.” Jack relented with a smile, pulling into the parking lot of ShopSmart.

 

“Thanks alot Jackie. You have a good day alright?” Bunny said, accompanied by the sound of something sizzling, Jack assumed he was making lunch.

 

“Yeah of course, you too. I’ll talk to you soon.” Jack said, and touched the red ‘end call’ button.

 

Jack quickly surveyed the virtually empty parking lot, and chose a space as close to the doors as he could get. Bunny was not wrong about him eating a lot, and there was no way he was gonna lug his cart any farther than he needed to.

 

He reversed into his parking space, and after checking to make sure he was inside the lines, shut his car off. He made sure to grab his phone and take the keys out of the ignition before he got out of the car, shut the door and locked it.

 

Since he was so close to the doors, the walk was only about 20 seconds long. ShopMart was your typical chain grocery store, big, square, mostly white and grey building. The name was displayed in bright red at the top face of the building, with small black font saying it was Sean and Kaitlyn’s ShopMart. There was a little shelter for shopping carts right beside the door, and knowing how big his load would be, he quickly fished a quarter out of his pocket.

 

There weren’t many people around at this time of day, so the line of carts was almost coming out of the shelter. He inserted his coin in the correct slot, and pushed until the chain on the other side fell out. It took a bit of pulling and shoving, but eventually the cart came free, and he turned it 180° to his left and entered the store through the automatic doors.

 

As soon as he stepped in, he was greeted by a gust of warm air. Jack smiled. One of his favourite parts of the shopping trip was going through the doors. The stores always had the perfect air conditioning for whatever weather they had outside.

 

When he was fully inside the store, he took a second to fully look around. This was his first time inside this particular store, and he was unfamiliar with the layout. His shoes stuck a little bit to the ground as he shifted side to side. Most likely fruit juice, as he was standing in what appeared to be the refrigerator section, with all the dairy and juice products.

 

Jack frowned and leaned more of his weight on the red shopping cart in his hands.

 

The grocery store he frequented back in Burgess always started out with the bread section, then moved on to the assorted aisles. The produce would be on the far left, and the freezer/dairy/fresh meat and poultry would all be in the back.

 

Now it was all messed up. The dairy was at the front, the bread was at the back left, the freezers were on the left, the meat and poultry were at the back right, and all the aisles were just plopped in random order in the middle.

 

Jack sighed. It wasn’t like he had OCD or anything, and he wasn't the neatest person, but things like these just kind of made him annoyed. Why couldn’t all store just organize themselves the same way? Now, he would have to grab his dairy first, then his bread, then go all the way to the other side for his frozen goods, and it was just a mess.

 

Well, the shopping wouldn’t get done on his own, he thought to himself, and reluctantly steered his cart toward the dairy section(why was it right beside him?) to pick up his milk. The products were mostly displayed in an open refrigerator, with a few products, like the juice and certain types of bagged milk, being behind glass doors.

 

The brands were a little different than what he was used to, but he picked the cheapest but best looking bag of 2% milk that he could find, and a carton of lemonade just in case.

 

He grabbed his phone out of his pocket as he turned around, and quickly typed in his passcode. He scrolled through his apps as he steered towards the aisles, and clicked on Google Keep. His most recent note was right at the top in plain white, and he clicked on it so that it opened full screen.

 

Jack stopped his cart in the breakfast food aisle, and clicked the check mark next to milk on his digital list. His phone drew a solid line through it, and Rice Krispies popped up.

 

There was a distant sound like boxes falling, and Jack looked up quickly to see a box of Ritz crackers tumble into his view at the very end of the isle.

 

Someone must have knocked into them or something, he thought, averted his focus to the impressive selection of cereals on his left. There were a bunch of sugary teeth rotting brands, but the sight of them made Jack’s stomach turn.

 

For some reason, even though Jack had one of the biggest sweet tooths ever, he had a distinct dislike for sugary cereals. It had been this way since he was a child, and there was really no reason for it. In any case, he’d much rather have a box of Rice Krispies than box of Fruit Loops any day.

 

His eyes passed over the different cereals until he finally came across his favourite brand. He glanced at the price and made a surprised sound in his throat. Almost 3 dollars less than his former grocery store! Jack grabbed 2 boxes.

 

Just as he was turning to continue down the aisle, a figure shot towards him. Before he could make a sound or get out of the way, the figure crashed into him. There was the distinct sound of a clatter as Jack fought not to fall flat on his ass.

 

Luckily, they weren’t running, so they only knocked him a little of balance, but a pang shot through the spot in his chest where their head hit him.

 

The person, who Jack now realized was a boy about his height, quickly sprang backwards, and looked at him with unfocused eyes.

 

The boy seemed to be swaying where he stood, so Jack quickly reached out a hand to try and steady him.

 

“Are you okay? You seem kind of distressed. Do you need help?”  
He asked in a soothing voice that he had practiced specifically for his future patients.

 

The boy didn’t seem to think the same though. Jack heard his breathing pick up to the point where he was basically wheezing. In a split second, he had dodged Jack’s hand and run past him, straight for the exit doors. The automatic doors opened quickly and smoothly, and the boy wasted no time speeding of through the chilly air and through the parking lot, paying no attention to the cars driving by him.

 

Jack watched him with a frown on his face, but he quickly disappeared out of his sight.

 

He turned back toward where the boy had just been standing, and saw a virtually empty store shopping cart, and a personal  
shopping cart, abandoned there.

 

Jack had no idea what could have spooked the boy out enough that he would just abandon all of his things, but it couldn’t be good. He took a shuffling step forward and came in contact with a hard object on the floor.

 

He looked down and was shocked to see a Samsung phone sitting on the ground, it's screen unlocked to display a grocery list.

 

Jack bent down to pick it up, and got a bad feeling in his stomach. The list had at least 20 items on it, and they were all pretty basic, but important.

 

Jack took a glance around, but all he saw was a lone employee re stacking the fallen Ritz into a pyramid.

 

He sighed and looked down at the phone in his hands, tapping the screen so it wouldn’t lock itself.

 

That boy really looked like he was in distress, terrified out of his mind. There didn't seem to be a high chance that he would come back any time soon to finish his shopping, or to retrieve his phone.

 

Hesitantly, Jack pressed the home button and started scrolling through slides to get a bit of insight into who this guy was. Almost instantly, his breath caught in his chest.

 

The phone’s background was a picture of the boy and a slightly older woman smiling at the camera, with a view of a house in the background. The house was what caught his attention.

 

It was his next door neighbor’s house.

 

The distinct dark grey colour of the house and looming fences were unmistakable. The only thing different was the fact that the picture was taken from the back of the house, meaning the two people in the picture had to have access to the backyard.

 

Logically, there was no way to know for sure that these two were the same people that Jack had had a ‘conversation’ with yesterday, but with the boys abnormal behaviour, and the picture evidence, Jack was pretty sure.

 

His chest throbbed again and he rubbed at it absentmindedly, surveying his surroundings again. His eyes were drawn once again to the boy's shopping carts.

 

Jack had no idea what was going on with the boy, but he knew he was probably feeling either pretty scared, or pretty shitty considering he'd left all his stuff there.

 

He quickly found the shipping list again and scanned the items. They weren't very special, and all in all would probably only cost about 60 bucks max.

 

He sighed once again. It didn't seem like the guy was gonna come back anytime soon, so he picked up the personal shopping cart and slid it under his own. He felt something roll around a little bit inside, but chose to ignore it.

 

He plucked the milk bag from the other cart and placed it in his own, setting of down the aisle to look for a box of Swiss Muesli, the second item on the boys list.

 

He might as well get through the list before he gives back the phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, sorry this took so long
> 
> I'm thinking of just taking a long leave to type up a bunch of chapters so that I can start updating regularly instead of so spread out, so don't be too worried if you don't get a chapter for a month or to. I promise to be back, with even longer chapters.
> 
> Please, comment ideas or things you like/dislike about the story so far!  
> I know, there isn't really much happening, but I still want to hear from you!


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack just wants to finish this stupid day

Jack wanted to smack himself

 

He was standing in the checkout line, his cart overflowing with groceries, half of them not even his. The boy next door’s(pun intended) phone was nestled in his pocket, and their grocery list may or may not have been extended, just because he was a stupid idiot who didn’t know when to stop being generous.

 

The person in front of him moved up, so Jack almost reluctantly moved forward. He honestly had no idea why he was doing this. This boy next door had only done him bad.

 

He had screamed at him when they had first ‘met, then almost run him over the second time. There was no reason why he should have picked up his stuff for him and decided to buy his groceries. In fact, that was the exact opposite of what most people would have done.

 

But still here he was, standing in line with a cart full of a stranger’s groceries.

 

It was completely illogical for him to just see the cart, the phone, and the grocery list and be like “Oh, why don’t I return this phone to my grumpy neighbor, and while I’m at it, why don’t I buy all his groceries too.”

 

Why should Jack spend his own money for some guy he hadn’t even formally met?

 

He shifted forward in line again and eyed the small display of gum and chocolate bars. Come to think of it, he hadn’t had a good chocolate bar in ages.

 

He grabbed an Oh Henry in passing and continued mulling over what exactly he was doing.

 

He wasn’t even completely sure if the guy would accept the food or not.

 

After what happened the last time he knocked on his door, he didn’t have a lot of faith in his chances.

 

Jack started to sweat a little bit in nervousness. This was why he was afraid to move out of Bunny’s house. Because he ended up making stupid, naive decisions like these.

 

It’s not like he had an unlimited amount of money. He only had the 100, 000 his parents gave him, plus a surprise 10, 000 Bunny gave him right before he left.

 

He still had to purchase the sign to advertise his services, and he had to pay his electricity, water, and heating bills in the near future. It probably wasn’t wise to randomly spend money on strange boys.  
Jack started to bite his nails, a nervous habit that he was still trying to kill.

 

The incessant beeping of the price scanners throughout the store only served to further unnerve him, and by the time he made it to the cashier, he was seriously contemplating just turning around and dumping all that guy’s groceries back somewhere in the store.

 

He didn’t know why he was so nervous. That had always been a problem for him; making a decision and then overthinking it until he could hardly breath through the anxiety, the possibility that he would be rejected or hurt or kidnapped or killed, all rolled into one.

 

And sure, this situation couldn’t really amount to more than an ache in his chest and 100 dollars of groceries that would probably rot before he had a chance to eat them.

 

But what if there was a chance that the boy wasn’t just some over cautious, distressed, prone to-randomly-run-out-of-grocery-stores teen. Maybe he had some serious mental issues, and if Jack showed up on his doorstep uninvited one more time he would snap. Maybe he would drag Jack inside and grab a knife and carve up his skin until he resembled a nightmarish thanksgiving turkey-

 

“Excuse me sir?” Jack snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a voice directly to his left. His heart pounded at a too rapid speed in his chest, and he was sure he looked like he had just spent a day in the Sahara desert from the way he was sweating.

 

He turned his head slightly to the left and sheepishly glanced at the young beta cashier. She didn’t seem too annoyed, only slightly concerned.

 

“Are you okay? You’re shaking.” She said, her hand coming up a bit like she wanted to touch him, but stopping about a foot away from his arm.

 

Jack clenched his hands into fists, and made a conscious effort to still his body. He sent what he hoped was a reassuring smile to the cashier, and made a mental note to check and see if there were any psychiatrists in town. He probably needed one.

 

“No no, I’m fine.” He replied, lifting his hand in a placating gesture but quickly pulling it back down when he realized how badly it was still shaking.

 

Jack just smiled again and quickly started placing his groceries on the conveyor belt. He tried not to let his thoughts run away from him again when he saw the bag of Brazil Nuts,  
something he would never again eat in his life.

 

The cashier, whose name tag read ‘Rebecca’, scanned his items as fast as lightning, and too soon for his liking, she was telling him his total was only $208.83

 

He eyed the numbers on the screen for a moment, but eventually, he slowly pulled his wallet out from his back pocket and handed over 4 crisp 50s and a 10.

 

The cashier smiled at him, but all Jack wanted to do was call Bunny and confess that he had just made the stupidest mistake of his life. For once, he would relish in the harsh words and reprimands, for at least it would make sense.

 

Nothing was making sense right now!

 

“Your change is $1.17, have a great day, and we hope to see you again here at ShopMart.” The beta’s smile was sweet and kind, but it didn’t do anything to sooth Jack’s nerves.

 

He collected his change from her outstretched hands and quickly shuffled his way to the loading belt. He surveyed the mountain of groceries before, and then to the pile of plastic bags Rebecca had generously provided. Jack honestly wasn’t a very big fan of plastic bags, as they tended to just sit around his house until he used them as bathroom garbage bags.

 

Unfortunately, ShopMart wasn’t one of those stores that put their used boxes in the back for customers to use, so Jack was stuck with the bags.

 

First and foremost, he had to separate his stuff from the boy next door’s. The next customer in line was still loading his things onto the conveyor belt, but Jack knew he only had short period of time until the cashier was gonna need the space he was currently occupying.

 

His silver fringe briefly covered his eyes as he bent down to grab the boy next door’s shopping cart from under his own. It was one of those oddly shaped ones that kind of looked like a vacuum bag on wheels. The bag was bright green in color, and had a big flap on top that covered the opening.

 

Jack flipped the flap open, and quickly started loading the cart with everything he knew wasn’t his, deliberately ignoring the metal baseball bat he saw nestled in the back pocket of the cart.

 

He made sure to start with the heavy and durable items. It would kinda defeat the purpose of his goodwill to deliver the boy next door a shopping cart full of cracked eggs and squashed bread.

 

By the time he was finished, the bag was bulging in awkward places, and the Rebecca kept glancing at him from where she was scanning her customers items. Guess he wasn’t as convincing as he thought.

 

Now there were only Jack’s items on the loading dock, and he set to work, packing his items into the plastic bags the same way he had packed the boy next door’s, heavy and durable items first, fragile and squishy items last.

 

With a satisfied sigh, Jack realized his hands had stopped shaking as he loaded his shopping cart with about 6 full shopping bags.  
Instead of placing the boy next door’s cart under his like before, he decided to place it with his own groceries on the top, just to make sure nothing fell out.

 

“Have a great day sir!” Rebecca called to him as he finally pushed his cart towards the exit doors.

 

Jack turned and waved with a slightly more real smile than last time, and stepped out into the cold wind.

 

His car was in the same spot that he left it in more than an hour before, and he fished his keys out of his pocket to click the unlock button. His lights flashed just as he arrived at the trunk of his car, and Jack pulled it open with a satisfying click.

 

He heaved the boy next door’s cart into his trunk, relieved that it managed to barely fit standing up, and quickly loaded up his own bags.

 

Jack’s hand gave a little twitch as he sat down in the driver’s seat, and he knew that that was a bad sign, but he honestly didn’t even give a shit.

 

This day had just turned into a completely ridiculous mess, and all he wanted to do was give that stupid boy his stupid phone and his stupid groceries and climb in his stupid bed and take a stupid nap at stupid 3:30 in the afternoon, until his stupid alarm went off at stupid 8:00 in the morning to tell him his stupid life was calling for his stupid self to wake the fuck up and get on with his stupid day.

 

Please excuse his stupid language.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, this is seriously not fair to you readers who patiently wait for an update, but I am a seriously lazy writer, and this story should have already been double the length it it now.
> 
> But, I promise, I am going to stick to AT LEAST weekly updates, so there will be a chapter by next Tuesday. I promise.
> 
> Please don't give up on me. Send me motivational thoughts so I get done faster! Thank you so much for reading.


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup has no groceries

The uncomfortable feeling of his jeans sticking to his legs was what awakened Hiccup from his impromptu nap. He blinked his eyes and felt the way the skin around them was puffier than usual, and the way the skin on his cheeks stretched awkwardly when he moved his mouth.

 

Since he fell asleep fully dressed, he was way too hot under his thick comforter. He slowly stretched his arms above his head, then sat straight up in one fluid motion. The resulting head rush was expected.

There was still a substantial amount of light streaming in from his window, so Hiccup guessed he had only been asleep for 3 hours at most. It was amazing how exhausting crying your eyes out could be.

 

An overwhelming sense of shame and hopelessness suddenly came over him. Hiccup was a 22 year old man who still lived with his mother. He almost never left the house, and was scared of almost everything. For anyone else, getting groceries once a week would be a simple task, no matter if there were Alphas, Betas, or Omegas present.

 

But no. Hiccup had to make this huge deal out of it and take a frigging baseball bat with him, and even then he couldn’t stay in the store for more than 10 minutes.

 

Really, there was no grounds for Hiccup’s fear. The only Alpha he had ever interacted with was his dad, and he hardly remembered him. Unlike most other omegas who were scared of Alphas, he had no traumatizing moment, nothing that would truly scar him until he couldn’t even see an Alpha from 20 meters away and not be scared out of his mind.

 

If he was asked, Hiccup wouldn’t even be able to explain why he was so scared of Alphas. Well, of course there are the obvious reasons, like them raping him or enslaving him with their Alpha voice, but those were just hypothetical. If it ever came down to it, he could beat most average Alphas in a foot race, and he had watched enough videos on YouTube to get out of any basic hold.

 

And it wasn’t like he would be encountering them in some shady back alley (because Berk didn’t have any shady back alleys) so they wouldn’t be able to try anything without anyone seeing anyway.

 

Hiccup didn’t even know how the average Alpha acted anyway. The mind was a very mysterious thing, or course no one could fully understand it, but most people can get a basic sense of someone's inner workings.

 

But that was only after meeting and interacting with the person several times, and as you already know, Hiccup has never done that.

 

How could he claim to know what an Alpha would do if he had never interacted with one?  
He’d never even read books about it. His mother had very strict rules on the kind of materials entered her home, and books on the very creatures she was deathly afraid of were surely worn out.

 

Now that Hiccup actually sat here analyzing it, he realized there was a gaping hole of emptiness in his gut, the place where he felt the most fear. Because there was a huge gap in his own understanding of his own fear.

 

How can someone who is afraid of heights really be afraid if they don’t even know how high they are?

 

How can someone be truly afraid of the dark if they’ve never opened their eyes and seen true darkness?

 

How can you be afraid to love if you’ve never loved?

 

It was actually quite ridiculous of Hiccup to only now realize this, right after he ran out of the grocery store in a blind panic. Which brought him back to the issue at hand.

 

There were no groceries.

 

Hiccup sighed and flung the covers off of himself. He gingery stepped onto his plush carpet and wiggled his toes, as they were always quite stiff after he woke up.

 

He saw where his shoes lay after he kicked them off, on of them being in his trash bin and the other just to the right of his feet. Luckily, his trash bin was empty, or that would be a whole different problem.

 

His knees cracked loudly as he bent down to pick up the aforementioned shoes, and he reminded himself to do a bit of stretching before he went to bed that night.

 

He carried the shoes over to the door, stopping on the way to free Toothless from his cage, where he had been imprisoned when he left hours ago.  
Hiccup continued out of the room and down the stairs to the front door, where he set the shoes down in their proper place on the shoe rack.

 

He didn’t see his mother around, which meant she was probably in her room. She had an intense love for soap operas, and spent almost all her time watching them, especially when she was in a bad mood. Hiccup just hoped she would remember to eat after he told her that he had failed to get the groceries. But at the same time, it wouldn’t matter because there would be no food.

 

Hiccup sighed as he turned around and went into the kitchen. He opened the cabinets and found only 1 box of Kraft Dinner, a packet of saltine crackers, a container of custard, and a sample packet of instant oats. In the fridge there was only a little bit of margarine, one egg, some leftover chicken alfredo, some carrots, and a jar of homemade pickles.

 

All in all, this definitely would not last them a full week.

 

Embarrassingly, Hiccup felt a lump in his throat and the oncoming of tears in his eyes. He would have thought that he was all cried out from yesterday’s waterfall, but alas, there the tears were.

 

And wasn't it so pathetic that the only thing he could seem to do was cry? It wasn’t as if all these things were happening because some unknown force was hellbent on making his life miserable. Everything was his own fault. And all he did was sit there and cry about it.

 

He started to see why his name was what it was, as he tears started rolling down his cheeks and uncontrollable hiccups escaped his throat.

 

Hiccup leaned against the fridge and slid down to sit on the floor, his whole body shaking with his sobs.

 

What was wrong with him? What was he doing with his life? He had never left Berk. Hell, he’d never slept over at someone else's house. He had no friends, except for the ones he’d made in his online classes, which were still only a handful at most. All his experiences were limited to his tiny bubble.

 

It wasn’t that he was unhappy, he was actually quite happy most of the time. But he hadn't really had many opportunities to be unhappy. He almost felt like he was in a cage built by his irrational fears, forever looking through the gaps in the bars at everyone else, living their lives freely. The prison master was his own mind, and there was no key.

 

Hiccup continued to sit there and sob uncontrollably, and could only hope that his mother wouldn’t hear him and come downstairs. Awkward would be an understatement.

 

Hiccup was sobbing so loudly he almost didn’t hear the knock on his door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know I promised a chapter like, 3 weeks ago, but i was just so Busy!!  
> So, here is chapter 11(3 weeks late) and chapter 12 will be up by tomorrow because I am already half way through writing it.  
> Enjoy!


	13. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk to each other!!

Jack had been sitting in his house for 3 hours now. He had already put all of his own groceries away, and the BND’s groceries were sitting in his cart by the door. He just could not bring himself to get up and actually take them to him.

 

Really, he had no reason to be nervous. There was a 99.99% chance that the boy would be grateful. After all, it’s not everyday that a random stranger buys your groceries for you.

 

But, there was still that 0.01% chance that was bothering him. It’s not like you could blame him for being apprehensive, because his previous interactions with the BND had NOT been good.

 

It was just, something about the whole situation really had him on edge, and he didn’t really know what he would do if he had another bad encounter with him.

 

There was an unexplainable feeling he got whenever he thought of how the boy had looked when he ran into him at the store. His expression of panic and desperation tugged at his heart in a way that he’d never felt with any of his patients. Even though he didn’t even know his name, he felt a connection so strong, he felt like he’d known him forever.

 

From his reactions though, it was pretty obvious that the BND didn’t feel the same, which was the main reason Jack was so reluctant to give him the groceries.

Having the boy so close to him and feeling that connection, only to be shunned was just….heartbreaking almost. And frankly, it scared him.

 

How could he already be so invested in someone he didn’t even know? It was strange. Almost like how his parents had described the way they met.

 

His Alpha father, Nicholas Frost, was a toy maker, and had his own toy company, Naughty & Nice Toy Co., which he ran with his best friend, Yetiman Furrison(we just call him Yeti).

 

His Omega mother was a dentist, and she worked in a dental office nearby his father’s building. His father had quite the sweet tooth, so it was expected that he one day ended up in her office.

 

After that, his parents described this mysterious connection they felt to each other. Hi father even started to make up reasons to go to her office, like a non existent toothache.

 

Their relationship bloomed, and they got married. 2 years later, they gave birth to him. And now, 23 years later, Jack was feeling the exact same thing.

 

Jack eyes widened as he came upon a new realization. If his parents could do it, why couldn’t he. His father wasn’t the most likable person on first contact, because he was 6ft8 and built like brick house. And his mother was the complete opposite. Short and slim, with kind eyes and multi-colored hair. If they could see something in the other and start a relationship, his and the BND’s shouldn’t be that hard.

 

Jack took a cautionary glance at the green shopping cart at the door. He thought of the way the boy looked just before bolting from the store. He thought about the baseball bat sitting in the back pocket of the cart.

 

These things weren’t really a demonstration of hostility on the BND’s part, and they weren’t really aimed at Jack himself. Really, it was just pure fear. Fear of the world in general, he would say.  
With a small grunt, Jack pushed himself of of his living room couch. He sidestepped the box with his TV in it, having been too lazy to set it up just yet, and made his way to his front door.

 

The BND’s sat snug in the pocket of his cargo pants, and it was yet another reminder that he really needed to head over to the boy’s house before he tried to go back into the store and search for the phone, probably causing him to have another meltdown. If that happened, jack would never have a chance with him. Pure hate is hard to overcome.

 

After Jack had his shoes on, he paused for one second. Most of the windows in his house were open, to let in the fresh air after the place was uninhabited for years, and he could easily hear whatever was going on in the neighborhood. But interestingly enough, there was nothing to hear. The place was silent.

 

Back in Burgess, there was always noise. It wasn’t really classified as a city, but it was close to it. There were always cars driving by and bikes whizzing past, children running around and laughing, people talking, just a general murmur of life.

 

This town was the complete opposite. It was like the people here were all introverts. But it wasn’t like it was a dead silence either. It was more peacefully still, like everyone was perfectly content with the silence. It would take some getting used to, but in a way it was actually quite nice.

 

Jack had always looked for the quiet in all of the noise, as it was one of the methods he liked to teach to his patients. The best way to deal with all the stuff going on in your head was to quiet your mind. For most, it is too hard to focus on one thing if there are a whole bunch of other things going on at the same time. The same goes for your thoughts. The average person has 10000 thoughts a day. People battling with issues of the mind have to deal with all of those thoughts, and deal with whatever it is that is ailing them, whether that be trauma or depression or anything. If you quiet your mind, you can single out the problems and start eliminating them. Most people are sceptical at first, but it is always something he teaches his patients, even if in the end their problem was dealt with a different way.

 

Jack smiled. This town really could be the key to him becoming a successful psychologist. Up until now all of his patients had been apart of his training in university, and even though he referred to them as His patients, they actually weren’t. It would be great to have his own patients for the first time.

 

He took a deep breath through his nose and out through his mouth. Here goes nothing.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Jack stood in front of the BND’s house, the cart of groceries at his side. The house seemed to loom on him, and although he knew it was all in his mind, he felt like it was even taller than it was the last time he stood there. Which was actually just yesterday.

 

There was no sign that anybody was home either. The curtains on the first floor were all drawn, and the second floor ones were only open enough to let in some light in. There were no sounds of movement either. Jack just had to hope the boy hadn’t already gone back to ShopMart, or this would be terribly awkward.

 

If this was a cartoon, he would have a huge drop of sweat on his forehead, and his whole throat would bob with a gulp the size of a baseball. He would also be able to fall from 50 ft high buildings and come away unscathed, and getting the guy would literally be a piece of cake.

 

But sadly, this wasn’t a cartoon, and Jac was going to have to deal with whatever life threw at him like a regular human, which meant falling from 50 ft high buildings without a parachute was not going to happen, and getting the guy had nothing to do with cake(which was probably a good thing because Jack wasn’t the biggest fan of cake).

 

So, Jack steeled himself, and exactly like yesterday, he knocked on the door.

 

And like last time, there was no response for quite awhile. But this time, Jack didn’t ring the doorbell. Knowing how they reacted last time, being overly assertive probably wasn’t a good approach.

 

So he waited, and eventually he heard the telltale sound of the door cracking open. His heart skipped a beat. He didn’t really want to admit it, but he hadn’t actually expected the door to open. Last time, the boy just looked through the people before he decided that Jack was assaulting him just by being there, so it hadn’t really occurred to him that this time would somehow magically be different.

 

The door opened just enough that Jack caught a glimpse of of dark brown hair, and just as Jack opened his mouth to speak, it abruptly stopped in motion. He frowned in confusion and tried to peer a little closer, but the boy's voice stopped him.

 

“W-w-what do y-you want?” The BND’s voice sent shivers down his spine. Although it was no more than a shaky whisper, Jack knew from experience that at full volume it had a deep undertone with a slight rasp. It was a voice that played through his mine in the hours since their encounter.

 

Jack made sure to keep his voice low and soothing when he replied. “I’m not here to get anything from you” He said.

The door cracked open, so he could now see half of a wide, slightly red eye. The boy looked like he’d been crying. “S-so why a-are you h-h-here?” the boy questioned again, still in that same shaky whisper. Jack was actually surprised that he was een still here talking to him. After his episode at Shop-Mart, just one whiff of Alpha should have literally sent him running.

 

“I’m not sure if you really saw me, but you bumped into me at the grocery store” at the word ‘grocery store, Jack noticed the boy flinch “and you kind of dropped some stuff on the way out.”

 

All of a sudden, the door was ripped open, and finally got an unobstructed, unhurried, full view of the boy next door.

 

Like he’d noticed at the store, the boy was about Jack’s height, actually just a tiny bit taller. He had dark brown hair that fell into his eyes a bit, and was kind of messily neat. His eyes were a very intense dark brown, like they were looking straight into you, even though they hardly seemed to focus. He had broad shoulders and a slim waist, clothed in a thick green sweater. His faded blue jeans fell over his feet, and Jack noticed his toes were slightly longer than average.

 

All in all, he looked nothing like the typical omega. In fact, he carried himself much like an Alpha would.

 

The boy's eyes filled with a barely contained sense of fury that had Jack taken aback.

 

“What do you mean I ‘kind of dropped some stuff?’ What did you steal my wallet and only came back because you didn’t find any cash?” This time, the boy did not stutter, and his voice was strong and clear. He wanted to make sure he got his point across.

 

The boy’s accusation confused Jack. He had no idea how he’d come to that conclusion. He quickly tried to reassure the boy of the truth.

 

“No no, I didn’t take your wallet. I didn’t take anything from you. When you ran out you dropped your phone and left your cart, an-and, your grocery list was still open, s-so I, I bought your groceries for you.” Jack finished sheepishly.

 

It wasn’t the way he wanted to explain it, but he felt he had to clear up the misunderstandings as soon as possible, before things got out of hand. The whole ordeal was already weird enough.

 

That gave the boy pause. His eyes darted from Jack’s face, then to the cart of groceries he’d finally caught sight of. All at once, the reality of the situation seemed to dawn on him, and the fear came rushing back. It was like he just realized that he was standing fully vulnerable in front of an Alpha. On top of that, he was standing in his own doorway, and all Jack had to do was step forward and he’d be in his that sacred space.

 

Jack took a step back, hoping some more distance between them would reassure the boy that he meant no harm.

 

The boy's mouth opened like he wanted to say something, then quickly snapped shut after a few seconds of nothing but air coming out. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration, and Jack had to physically stop his face from morphing into an endearing smile. This boy was just too cute for his own good. Which might be a little inappropriate to say considering he was taller than jack and most likely around his age, which would make him a young man instead of a boy, but he wasn’t going to sweat the details. Boy was a lot easier to digest.

 

“I- I, umm th…..thank you for buying my groceries for me. Y-you really didn’t have to. I was actually going to go back m-myself.” The boy’s reply was dripping with confusion and apprehension, and he wasn’t even trying to be convincing when he lied about going back, because it must have been obvious to him, Jack, and everyone else that had been in the store that he was not going to be going back for a very long time.

 

But jack appreciated the thank you anyway.

 

“No no, it was no problem” he lied. Not that he wouldn’t do it again. The accompanying anxiety was really no ones fault but his own.

 

He reached into his pocket and brought out the boy’s phone, and it was almost comical how his eyes zeroed in on it like it was his long lost love.

 

“Here’s your phone. I added my phone number into it just in case you need any help, or more groceries. Feel free to call me anytime, I’m always free.” Jack added.

 

Yes, it was kind of strange that he had added his number, but he just wanted to be helpful. And if in the future things between them got more serious, the boy would already have his number. It was a 2 in 1 deal.

 

It was hard not to notice how the boy flinched when Jack outstretched his hand with the phone towards him, but Jack tried not to take it to heart. Whatever reason the boy had for being afraid of alphas, Jack had nothing to do with it. All he could do was hope that he could make him feel differently.

 

After a brief moment where the boy simply stared at Jack’s hand as if it was going to eat him, he finally reached out and took the phone. As slowly as possible, so as not to startle him, Jack grabbed the cart and pushed it forward until it was sitting right at the lip of the boys doorway.

 

Somehow, at the same time, the boy reached out to grab the cart from Jack.

 

Their hands met.

 

And sparks flew.

 

Well, of course, not actual sparks, but the metaphorical romantic type. The type that couples give as a reason for them breaking up, because they lost ‘the spark’. That kind.

 

It felt like sparks too. A really intense tingling coursing through his hand. It was obvious the boy also felt it, the way he jerked his hand away and his eyes turned to Jack’s accusingly, like he was the one at fault.

 

And again, Jack fought a smile. He looked kind of like an angry kitten.

 

“Well, um, enjoy your groceries. I’ll be next door, unpacking all my stuff. Call me if you need anything. Have a good day.” Jack smiled and gave a little way, turning around on his foot and starting to walk down the steps.

 

“You too.” Jack heard called from behind him. He sighed a little bit. He could fall asleep just from the sound of that voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it is a day late, but I just had to make it longer to fit everything in.


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little short chapter before I can get a really long one out
> 
> Hiccup is starting to feel some things

 

 

Hiccup watched with wide eyes as the Alpha left, not quite believing that that had just happened. He looked down at the phone in his hand, the one that had just been in the hands of an Alpha male, who could have just snatched him off the doorstep and made of with him, but instead had been kind enough to pay for his groceries and return his phone.

  
  


He looked down at the black screen and saw the evidence of the Alpha’s sweaty fingertips sliding around on the screen. It should have scared him, to know that someone like that had access to all of his personal information, but he just felt numb.

  
  


With shaky hands, Hiccup typed in his passcode and opened his phone to show the home screen. He hadn’t even thought to wonder how the Alpha knew where he lived, but looking at the picture of him and his mother in their backyard, it all became clear.

  
  


He wondered how the Alpha must have felt, knowing that he now had a face to put on the voice that had screamed at him to get off their property. It should have made him angry, made him want to steal Hiccup’s things instead of returning them. But it hadn’t. And in a way, that scared Hiccup more than it would have if he had realized that he would never see his phone again. The fact that an Alpha had been  _ kind _ .

  
  


He closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose before opening them again. This was all becoming a bit too overwhelming. And the chill of the outside air was starting to make his cheeks red, and his bare feet numb.

  
  


Hiccup quickly grabbed his shopping cart to pull it inside, but almost sprained his wrist from misjudging the amount of weight inside it. His shopping list definitely had not been that long! How much stuff did the Alpha buy?

  
  


After getting a better grip on it, Hiccup finally pulled the cart over the short doorstep and into his warm home. He carefully closed the door with his foot and pulled the cart the rest of the way into the kitchen. Faintly, he could hear the sounds of  Days Of Our Lives coming from his mother’s television. 

  
  


Once in the kitchen, Hiccup just stood, staring at his shopping cart. Consciously, he knew he was supposed to open it and start unloading all his groceries and putting them in their proper place, but he just couldn’t. There was just this  _ feeling _ . This feeling that if he opened the cart, something would happen. Something big and scary and completely out of his control. 

  
  


But then his stomach rumbled. And he remembered that he had not eaten for at least 6 hours. And he reached out. And he opened the flap. And he came face to face with a box of animal crackers.

  
  


At that moment, Hiccup was sure his face was morphed perfectly into an expression of complete and utter confusion. 

  
  


Because power hungry, rape obsessed Alphas don’t but their rude offending Omega neighbors groceries. And they sure as hell don’t buy them crackers in the shapes of giraffes and dogs and horses and pigs and-

  
  


No. Just no.

  
  


All of a sudden, he felt itchy and self conscious. Impulsively, Hiccup turned around, only to come face to face with the form of the Alpha next door.

  
  


Considering he had just seen him, it shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did. But still, he jumped so high he could have hit the ceiling, and started shaking all over. It actually took him a moment to realize that he was staring directly into the attic window of the Alpha’s home, and that the Alpha hadn’t even seen him.

  
  


The attic was the only part of the house that could be seen over the fence. The Alpha-and Hiccup still did not know his name(not like he wanted to or anything)-was currently unpacking a box by the window. It was hard for Hiccup to get a perfect view, but it looked like he was pulling out a bunch of stuffed animals. 

  
  


The sight sent Hiccup reeling back from the window and banging right into one of the kitchen cabinet doors. Not because he was scared or surprised or anything to do with the actual action of watching him unload the box. But because of the feeling.

  
  


Seeing the Alpha with such a content look on his face, unloading a box of _ stuffed animals _ for goodness sake, right after seeing a box of animal crackers in his shopping cart that had definitely  _ not _ been on the list, sparked a feeling in Hiccup’s chest. It was a new feeling, something he had never felt before, and he could only think to describe it as warm. 

  
  


And that was not good, because all Hiccup had ever felt when he thought of Alpha’s was either burning hot or freezing cold. Feelings that weren't pleasant in the least. Feelings that made him afraid, made him want to stay away. And up until just a few moments ago, that was all he was feeling, all he had ever felt, all he was going to feel for the rest of his life.

  
  


But now. Now the Alpha has done strange things. He’s been kind and generous and respectful and honest and cute-

  
  


Wait. No. Not cute, he  **can’t** be cute. 

  
  


The kitchen started to feel smaller all of a sudden, like it was caging him in. Hiccup risked a glance upward and slowly, ever so slowly, crept back toward the window.

  
  


He looked straight into the window of the Alpha’s home and saw him hugging a huge stuffed tiger with the biggest,  **cutest** smile on his face.

  
  


Hiccup gripped the edge of the counter in a white knuckle grip and took a deep breath into his nose. The feeling was spreading. Instead of just being in his chest, it was now in his arms and his fingers and his legs and his toes and his head and his  _ face.  _

  
  


He was blushing. Hiccup  **never** blushed.

  
  


And now the Alpha was holding up the tiger and making his arms move like he was dancing, and Hiccup wanted to cry because he was smiling. Hiccup was smiling because he was watching a  **cute** boy who was dancing with his  _ stuffed tiger,  _ and he was laughing, and now Hiccup was imagining what his laugh would sound like and it was just happening too fast.

  
  


And it's not like he didn’t know that one day it would happen. One day he wouldn’t be able to resist it any longer and he would let his guard down and he would fall in love. But he had always thought he would already have a life started and he would be independant and that it would end up being a Beta. 

  
  


He didn’t think that he would be only 22 and still living with his mother, still a scared little boy who didn’t know what he was doing with his life.

  
  
And he definitely didn’t think the Alpha next door who he had first greeted with ‘Just leave us alone!” would be the one to steal his heart.


	15. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup is very, VERY angry. So he bakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so so sorry that this took so long, I was just really thinkng about how to continue from where I left.
> 
> This chapter is kind of different from the other chapters. It's more just Hiccup stuck in his own mind, and it's kind of choppy.
> 
> But, I am so tired I cannot continue it for now so you'll have to deal with the mini cliffhanger until later on.
> 
> But it will definity be sooner than last time.
> 
> Thank you for all your support and comments, hope you enjoy!

 

The next 3 days were sort of a blur for Hiccup. He didn’t leave the house at all, not even to take out the trash or mow the lawn. He didn’t even open his windows.

  
  


It was very silly of him, but he was afraid that any exposure to the Alp- actually, to Jack -  as his phone contact had told him - would further the slowly growing infatuation he had for him. Even catching a whiff of his scent was dangerous, hence the window closure. 

  
  


Hiccup was currently sat in his living room. The TV was on, and the latest episode of _General Hospital_ was playing on low, but it was just background noise.

  
  


Even after 3 days,  _ Jack  _ was still on his mind. If anything, the isolation had made it worse, because now the only things he had to distract himself were his thoughts, and his thoughts were full of Jack.

  
  


This was only the third crush Hiccup had ever had in his entire life. Ever. 

  
  


The first one had been on a fictional character in one of his favourite mangas, so that didn't really count.

  
  


The second one had been on a girl he used to meet at the park on Thursdays, when his mom used to take him back when he was 12.

  
  


She had long flowing red hair, which she always wore tied back with a bright green ribbon. She was Hiccup’s polar opposite, always hyper and running around, while Hiccup was always very slow and calm. Her mother was divorced and an omega, so his mother wasn’t concerned about their presence.

  
  


But still, over time, Hiccup felt a growing attraction to her, and he began to look forward to those Thursdays, where for just an hour, he could pretend he wasn’t always holed up in his house by himself, and that this pretty girl with ginger hair felt the same way he did.

  
  


And one day, after weeks of Hiccup staring from afar working up the nerve to ask her to be his friend, she came up to him instead. It turned out she was 2 years younger than him, and she had been patiently waiting for him to man up and be a proper gentleman and ask for her to play with him, but she had grown tired of his nerves, and had taken it upon herself.

  
  


For the next three months, they were the best of friends. She even came over to his house once, albeit it was only for a half hour, but still!

  
  


Then, her mother got a new boyfriend. An Alpha. And Hiccup's mother stopped taking him to that park, from fear that he would somehow harm her and Hiccup.

  
  


That was the moment when their relationship went sour. Hiccup never did get to tell Catherine how he felt. Yes, her name was Catherine. It hurt just to think about. Not because he was still hung up on her or anything. That would just be strange.

  
  


But because it was the first time Hiccup had ever really been friends with someone, or even been in close contact with a person on a regular basis. His mother had taken away all of Hiccups chances at social interaction with her baseless fears and beliefs, all the while brainwashing him into believing that it was okay.

  
  


It was not okay.

  
  


Because now it was happening again. Hiccup had feelings for someone. And those feelings, not matter how tentative they felt right now, we're growing, slowly but surely. And after living his whole life sheltered and afraid, Hiccup had no idea how to take the first step. 

  
  


It's not like he was saying he didn't love his mother. He loved her wholeheartedly, and he knew she did what she did to protect him.

  
  


But it was all he could do to sit huddled into himself on his living room couch at 2:00 in the afternoon, reeking of fear, shame, and regret.

  
  


Hiccup felt the lump in his throat before he felt the wetness in his eyes. He put his head in his hands and pulled his hair in frustration.

  
  


All he could do was cry! What was wrong with him? It seemed all he could do now was cry. It was quite ridiculous. When did he become such a cry baby anyway?

  
  


Hiccup angrily wiped his eyes and stood up from the couch. Why was he acting as if he had no power in this situation? 

  
  


He had a crush on a boy. A boy whose name was Jack. A boy whose name was Jack who was an Alpha. A boy whose name was Jack who was an Alpha who lived next door.

  
  


Hiccup marched determinedly to the kitchen. So what Hiccup had crush on an Alpha? He wasn’t scared. He could take care of himself. And if he wanted to be attracted to an Alpha, that was his own decision. His mother had no say. She didn't even have to know about it.

  
  


Hiccup angrily grabbed butter, sugar, and eggs. He was a grown ass man. It was time that he acted like one. Heck, girls half his age had had more relationships than him! He turned his electric mixer on high and beat the butter and sugar until it looked like smooth white icing.

  
  


Hell, Hiccup had never even held hands with anyone other than his mother and Catherine. Just the thought made his hand move faster as he mixed the eggs in with the creamed butter and sugar.

  
  


If not for this incredibly handsome Alpha coming along, how long would it be before Hiccup turned into a 40 year old man still living with his mother, never having felt the intimate touch of another human being? He sneezed as a cloud of dust came up from where he’d slammed the bag of flour onto the counter.

  
  


If anything, he would have ended up being married to Toothless. TOOTHLESS.

Hiccup viciously leavened the cup of flour in his hands before dumping it in a bowl, along with 3 teaspoons of baking powder.

  
  


Imagine the news stories. ‘Crazy Sheltered Omega Finally Snaps And Gets Married To Pet Snake’. He would become the laughing stock of the country. The knife in his hands moved quick as lighting across his cutting board as he cut apples into cubes.

  
  


What was his mother thinking? How did she expect Hiccup to become a functioning member of his society if he’d never been in society? A few apples tumbled onto the counter as Hiccup tossed them in a bowl of cinnamon.

  
  


It was almost like she didn't even care whether or not he had a future as a regular person. Hiccup meticulously started layering in a buttered loaf pan. Cake batter, cinnamon apples, cake batter, cinnamon apples, cake batter, cinnamon sugar on top.

  
  


Why had she made him this way anyway? There was no way her parents had kept her caged up for most of her young adult life. He carefully stuffed his dessert into his 350° preheated oven, and set a timer for 25 minutes.

  
  


Hiccup padded into his dining room and sat down heavily in one of the chairs. Why did his mother raise him the way she had? It was a question he had probably asked himself a million times, in those moments when he felt wholly and truly alone.

  
  


Why was his mother so afraid of Alphas that she wouldn’t even let him step outside to go check the mail by himself until he was 13?

  
  


Why she always bought him candy on Halloween instead of going out trick or treating

  
  


Why Hiccup had never known what a ‘mall' was until he overheard some people talking about it at the grocery store when he was 17.

  
  


All these questions just made him angrier. Because Hiccup wanted to feel sympathy for his mother. He wanted to tell her that he understood why she did those things, that he forgave her for her mistakes, that he knew.

  
  


But that was the thing. He didn't know. He didn't know anything about what was going on in his mother's head, just like he didn’t know how to get a library card. 

  
  


Because she. Didn't. Tell him.

  
  


The timer rang for the oven.

  
  


Hiccup slammed his hands down on the table and pushed himself up out of his chair before stomping into the kitchen. He turned off the oven and bent down to open it, letting a puff of hot air slap him in the face.

  
  


The loaf was obviously ready. Even if it wasn't, Hiccup was not in the mood to check. They would just have to deal with what was on the inside.

  
  


He pulled on his oven mitts and grabbed the loaf, placing it on the stove and kicking the oven door shut. It smelled amazing. Hiccup smirked angrily to himself. That would show them.

  
  


He leaned against the counter and stared at the loaf. He would stand there and wait until it was cool enough for his tastes. Not like he had anything better to do.

  
  


20 minutes later, Hiccup walked into the living room and picked up his abandoned sketch pad from that morning. He wrote a short note with his 2b pencil, and ripped it out with as much precision and patience as a Hippo taking a bath. 

  
  


He then preceded to walk back into the kitchen and use a toothpick to spear the note to the loaf. No need to waste tape on something so easily taken care of.

  
  


The whole thing was then covered in tin foil. Hiccup picked up the loaf and carried it with him to the front door, where he set it on a nearby table so he could put on his shoes and jacket.

  
  


He opened the front door and was greeted with a gust of cold air. He hefted up the loaf, walked down his front steps, straight first, then left.

  
  


The house was bright blue and cheery, nothing like his grey and black house, straight out of a horror movie. Hiccup paid no mind to it though, just headed straight for the front door.

  
  


He knocked sharply three times. No answer. So he rang the doorbell. No answer. So he ran the doorbell again. Finally, he heard distant footsteps getting closer.

  
  


The door was slowly pulled open, and Hiccup came face to face with Jack.

  
  
Hmm. What was he doing again?


	16. Chapter almost 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sneek peak at chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so so so so sorry, but these past weeks have been so busy, with Christmas and culminatings and secret santas and blah, but that really is no excuse to take so long to update, so I am sincerely form the bottom of my heart apoligizing for taking so long.
> 
> Unfortunately, I am leaving to go to my church for a week long workshop in about a half hour, meaning I will have almost no time to update then either. I might be able to get on a laptop at some point, so cross your fingers, but other than that I will be stuck in lectures and the like.
> 
> But, this is the little chunk I managed to get done, so just hold on to this until I can get you the full chapter.
> 
> Again, I apoligize, but thank you so much to all those people who still stay caught up with the story and comment and everything.
> 
> Happy Holidays!!!!! Hope you enjoy

It was almost like waking up from a dream, or coming up for air after being underwater. He felt disoriented, not sure what was happening or why. The haze of anger had lifted, and he was left standing in front of his crush looking like an idiot.

 

Jack was staring at him with what looked like a faint smile on his face, and Hiccup just stared blankly back.

 

“Hi?” Jack voiced the greeting like a question, obviously confused as to what his aloof neighbor was doing on his doorstep so randomly.

 

At that, all of Hiccup’s confidence evaporated. A quiver started in his toes that led to a tremble in his knees and a shaking in his arms and a quaking in his head.

 

He was completely out of his depth! Even if Jack had shown surprising amounts of kindness and not-Alphaness, that didn't mean he couldn't do a complete 180 and drag him into his home and have his way with him right this second.

 

Even if Jack’s fringe caught the light in just the right way that he seemed to sparkle, which went so well with the twinkle in his eye and his bright, glowing smile.

 

Wow. Hiccup was overhearing way too many of his mom’s soap operas. It was not that serious.(Yet).

 

“U-umm I, umm…” Hiccup could already feel those STUPID tears trying to push his eyeballs. It was infuriating, but also appropriate. He actually felt like he might pee his pants. Wouldn't that be nice.

 

He just could not come up with what to say. Hello, I randomly baked you this apple cinnamon loaf in a fit of rage and can't even remember whether the note said I hate you or I love you, but here, surprise, I was actually thinking about you.

 

No. Just no.

 

Hiccup was sure Jack could see the steam coming out of his ears as his brain overworked itself trying to come up with a few simple words.

 

“I-I just….hmmm….HERE!”. Hiccup forced the words out of his mouth and thrust the loaf into Jack's hands, and just as quickly, he was turning around and literally sprinting back home.  
The sound of the door shutting behind him  
probably shouldn't have been as satisfying as it was


	17. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The full chapter 15.  
> Hiccup has delivered his gift, and Jack is about to get another delivery. Or is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel so dumb, I only figured out yesterday that rich text enabled me to add bold and italics *smh*

 

 

It was almost like waking up from a dream, or coming up for air after being underwater.  He felt disoriented, not sure what was happening or why. The haze of anger had lifted, and he was left standing in front of his crush looking like an idiot.

  
  


Jack was staring at him with what looked like a faint smile on his face, and Hiccup just stared blankly back.

  
  


“Hi?” Jack voiced the greeting like a question, obviously confused as to what his aloof neighbor was doing on his doorstep so randomly.

  
  


At that, all of Hiccup’s confidence evaporated. A quiver started in his toes that led to a tremble in his knees and a shaking in his arms and a quaking in his head.

 

He was completely out of his depth! Even if Jack had shown surprising amounts of kindness and not-Alphaness, that didn't mean he couldn't do a complete 180 and drag him into his home and have his way with him right this second.

  
  


Even if Jack’s fringe caught the light in just the right way that he seemed to sparkle, which went so well with the twinkle in his eye and his bright, glowing smile.

  
  


Wow. Hiccup was overhearing way too many of his mom’s soap operas. It was not that serious.(Yet).

  
  


“U-umm I, umm…” Hiccup could already feel those STUPID tears trying to push his eyeballs. It was infuriating, but also appropriate. He actually felt like he might pee his pants. Wouldn't that be nice.

  
  


He just could not come up with what to say. Hello, I randomly baked you this apple cinnamon loaf in a fit of rage and can't even remember whether the note said I hate you or I love you, but here, surprise, I was actually thinking about you.

  
  


No. Just no.

  
  


Hiccup was sure Jack could see the steam coming out of his ears as his brain overworked itself trying to come up with a few simple words.

  
  


“I-I just….hmmm….HERE!”. Hiccup forced the words out of his mouth and thrust the loaf into Jack's hands, and just as quickly, he was turning around and literally sprinting back home.

  
  


The sound of the door shutting behind him probably shouldn't have been as satisfying as it was.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jack stared after the running boy until he was out of his view.  He blinked a couple times, just to make sure he hadn’t imagined what just happened. 

  
  


The loaf pan in his hands was quite warm, almost hot, and was emitting an amazing smell of apples and cinnamon, almost like apple pie.

  
  


Well, this was unexpected.

  
  


Jack leaned out of his doorway and tried to catch a glimpse of his neighbor's home, but the fences blocked his vision. He sighed in confusion, but retreated back into his home and shut the door with his hip to block out any more cold air.

  
  


He carefully made the short journey to his kitchen and placed the loaf on the counter by the window. Maybe it was because even though he knew logically there was no way his human eyes could see through a wooden fence, he was still hoping he could somehow see the boy, just to get some sort of understanding as to what just happened.

  
  


The tantalizing smell drew Jack’s attention back to the loaf pan. It was neatly wrapped in tin foil on the top, which was most likely to keep the heat trapped inside. 

  
  


His fingers carefully untucked the edges, trying for some unknown reason not to rip the wrapping, before peeling it off the pan to reveal a beautifully caramel brown loaf of some sort of apple cinnamon bread.

The smell was even more tasty with the wrapping off, and Jack was ready to dive right in, before he noticed the small piece of paper skewered to it with a toothpick. It looked like note. 

  
  


Hmm. A note. A note that could possibly explain the impromptu baked gift. Welp. Nothing to do but read it and find out.

  
  


He plucked the toothpick out of the loaf and brought the note close enough to his eyes that he could actually make out the neatt scrawl.

  
  


_ Dear Jack, _

 

_ Thank you for buying me groceries. You didn’t need to, but I appreciate it. Here is an apple cinnamon loaf to express my sincere gratitude. _

 

_ In case you have any allergies, here are the ingredients: _

_ All purpose flour _

_ Baking powder _

_ Unsalted butter _

_ Granulated sugar _

_ Brown Sugar _

_ Free-run organic brown eggs _

_ Granny smith apples _

_ Cinnamon  _

 

_ Hope you enjoy it _

 

_ Love, Hiccup _

  
  


Jack was certain his heart skipped a beat.

  
  


**Love?**

  
  


Like,  _ love _ love?

  
  


The type of love of two people in love, love?

 

Okay okay, wait. That was a pretty big step. He probably didn’t even know what he was writing. Even if the language was eloquent and thoughtful and grammatically correct. Maybe he was on autopilot. It did seem pretty stilted, robotic even.

  
  


Even then, the words had to come from somewhere. Even if it was his sub-sub-subconscious it was still in his brain.

  
  


The BND loved him.  _ Hiccup  _ loved him(Even if it was most likely platonic and not at all sincere).

  
  


Jack looked back down at the note and giggled to himself. Hiccup. Was that his real name?

  
  


It seemed pretty comical for a parent to actually name their child Hiccup. Not that Jack was making fun of him for it. It was cute.

  
  


Maybe it was a nickname. Maybe he hiccuped a lot as a child. All Jack knew was that he finally had a name for his boy next door. And an apple cinnamon loaf to devour.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jack was seated on his living room couch, the big cushy dark blue one that faced the window. It was his favourite spot to sit nowadays for people watching. Not that there were many people to watch, but the occasional passerby could be quite interesting.

  
  


Right now though, he wasn’t focused on the people outside, but rather the delicious slice of apple cinnamon loaf in his hands, and the tall glass of milk on his coffee table. It really was such a cliche, and something he usually never indulged in, but the bread was so rich he really did need something to wash it down.

  
  


The loaf was honestly one of the best baked goods he had ever tasted. And that was saying something, considering his mom had won over 15 awards in Burgess for her baking, and Jack wasn't too shabby himself. But this was absolutely amazing. 

  
  


The ratio of bread to apples to cinnamon was perfect. There was the perfect amount of baking powder in order for the loaf to rise but not taste bitter. It was baked a the perfect temperature for just the right amount of time to give it a beautiful caramel brown crust that just melted in his mouth. Jack was in dessert heaven!

  
  


Just as he was going to take another huge bite, he heard his phone ring from inside the kitchen where he had left it on the counter. 

  
  


He had no qualms about rolling his eyes, since he was in the comfort of his own home where no one could see him. Why would someone need to call him now?!

  
  


He placed the leftover slice of bread next to the glass of milk and heaved himself up from his comfy spot on the couch, making his way back into the kitchen.

 

“ _ Hi, my name is (huh?) _

_ My name is (what?) _

_ My name is-” _

 

Just as the song was about to finish the chorus and stop ringing, Jack reached out and grabbed it, quickly swiping the green ‘accept call’ button, briefly registering that it was an unknown number.

  
  


“Hello?” He asked, hoing his voice didn’t portray that little bit of lingering annoyance he had at being interrupted.

  
  


“Hello, is this a Mr. Jackson Frost?” The caller seemed to be a young woman, and she had a faint but noticeable french accent.

  
  


“Yes, this is him. May I ask who is calling?” He kept his voice polite, knowing now that it was probably an important call, as his phone hadn’t been registered long enough for random telemarketers to bother him yet.

  
  


“Yes, I am calling on behalf of HomeAds Printmaking. The order that you made is ready to be delivered, I was just calling to find out your address. Our website doesn’t ask for it.”

  
  


Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. He had just made that order a couple days ago! Wow, companies in Berk seemed to be quite efficient. Or they just never got any orders. Either way.

“Oh thank you! My address is…..actually can you hold on for one second?” Jack only just realized that he still hadn’t completely memorized his address. He was usually pretty good about this kind of thing, but he’d had a couple of things on his mind in the short time he’d been here. He hadn’t had much time to remember addresses.

  
  


“Yes that’s fine.” The woman replied kindly. Jack pulled the phone away from his ear and clicked the pause button to hold the call, before placing the phone on the counter and once again making his way into the living room.

  
  


He had to have put the address somewhere in one of his books or something. He went to his messenger bag and pulled out a whole bunch of papers, most of which weren’t even important, just receipts and confirmations and old bills. He set all those on the coffee table and continued sifting through.

  
  


After a couple minutes of fruitless searching, he finally pulled out a worn piece of paper from one of the inner pockets. It had an ugly purple tea stain right in the centre of it, and Jack remembered that he had been drinking wildberry tea while reading the letter from the realtor, before Bunny had launched himself onto his back and made him spill all of it on himself and the letter.

  
  


And of course the tea would have had to spill on the exact spot where the address was written in bold and smudge some of the numbers.

  
  


Fortunately, Jack remembered enough of the address to piece the rest together. 1045 Goldawn Ave, F2R 7G9. He remembered calling it the address of new beginnings when he first heard it.

  
  


Quickly, before the operator decided to hang up on him, he jogged to the kitchen and took the call of hold.

  
  


“Sorry about that.” He apologized to the woman.

 

“Oh, no worries. It’s always good to be certain.” She responded warmly. Jack smiled. He had to remember to rate them for their customer service later. 

  
  


“Um yes, so my address is 1045 Goldawn Avenue, and the postal code is F2R 7G9.” He relayed the address to her while squinting at the paper in his hands, to make sure he got it right.

  
  


She paused for a moment, and there was some typing in the background, before her voice returned again.

  
  


“Thank you Mr. Frost. Your order will arrive within the next 2 days.Have a good day!”

  
  


“You too.” Jack responded, before hanging up.

  
  


Things were moving a lot faster than he had anticipated. With the banner arriving so soon, his business would most likely start within the next week, as there weren’t that many counseling psychologists in town. He was still expecting his business cards from Vistaprint, but he’d ordered those before he even left Burgess, since their operating branches were quite far away from here.

  
  


Those two things were basically all he had in the ways of ads. Since Berk wasn’t a very big town, they didn’t have much in the ways of bus shelter and atop building advertisements, and what little they did had costed way more than Jack was willing to spend.

  
  


Jack slowly walked back into the living room, hopefully for good this time, and sat next to his messenger bag, staring at the messy pile of papers on his coffee table. There wasn’t really anywhere to put them that wouldn’t require him to get up again, so he ignored them in favour of picking up his half eaten slice of bread. 

  
  


It was quite nerve wracking now that he thought about it. Starting his own practice. It was a really big step for him to take, being only 23 and fresh out of university. He didn’t really have any concrete experience, other than the friends and relatives he had given advice to for free. And no matter how much they claimed otherwise, that didn’t actually count.

  
  


He just really wanted to do it, and do it his own way. Although he had gone through all the required courses and training in university, and he’d had gotten near perfect marks, his approach was a lot more unorthodox than what he’d learned. 

  
  


For one thing, as long as the patient didn’t have a specific problem with it, there was always a lot of touching involved. It wasn’t intimate or anything, just holding their hand as they told him their story or giving them a hug while they cried. He wanted them to feel comfortable with him, and feel like they could confide in him and rely on him. Most of them didn’t have that sort of support with the people they knew, which was the reason they came to him in the first place.

  
  


He wanted to make sure that they knew he was there for them, on many different levels. Where most psychologists he knew chose to away from their patients and isolate them in the centre of the room, he instead sat with them wherever they felt most comfortable, whether that was on his couch or on the kitchen floor. It was all about what made them want to open up and share. It didn’t matter whether that was his original idea or whether that was what he was most comfortable with. It wasn’t like they were paying him to make himself comfortable.

  
  


A lot of his peers in university had criticised him for it when they had discussions about stuff like that, saying it wasn’t the traditional method, or it was strange and unethical, some even called him a hippie and asked if he was high.

  
  


Of course he’d just laughed and shook his head. Their opinions didn’t matter to him. They were small minded, and couldn’t look far up enough from their textbooks to see a new way of doing things. Well, he’d just have to prove them wrong and become a success. 

  
  


The slice of apple cinnamon loaf was long gone, as was the glass of milk. It was starting to get dark outside, and Jack glanced at his new cable box to see that it was already 5:00, meaning he had to get started on dinner. Meaning another trip to the kitchen.

  
  


Stifling a sigh, Jack got up from his couch  _ again  _ and went back into the kitchen to find something to cook. He was getting quite lazy already, it seemed.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Later that night, after both Jack and Hiccup had gone to bed, a delivery man was checking over his order list for the next day.

  
  


“1045 Goldawn huh? That’s not too far from here. I can do that after the other 2” He mused, looking over his clipboard “actually, I think I’ve been there before on my way to the store. Lady dropped her purse outside. Pretty scary house, all dark grey and tall fences. Weird to think they’d be starting a counseling psychology practice. Well, who am I to judge.”

 

He put the clipboard back on his desk and shut of all the lights, shrugging on his jacket and heading out, remembering to lock the door behind him.


	18. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know it has been almost 2 months, and a literally have no excuse for why this took so long, other than the fact that I just could not find the energy to type what was in my head. Or even put it into words. Doesn't really make sense, but that's the truth. Plus, I had a whole bunch of extracurriculars, the most demanding having just finished this passed week. Anyway, enough about me, here is the long awaited chapter 16! Sorry its so short, the next chapter will be longer and more informative.

 

 

 

_ Hiccup was surrounded by thick bushes and tall trees with branches so thick they blocked out his view of the sky. It wasn't very late in the evening, but any sun that was shining was blocked out by the trees, so it was quite dark. _

  
  


_ Hiccup looked down at himself and saw that he was still dressed in the pajamas he went to sleep with; blue Minions pajama pants and a black tank top. But, if he was dressed in pajamas, then how could he have made it all the way from his house into this random forest? _

  
  


_ He turned around in a slow circle, stepping as light as possible to try and avoid possible splinters. There wasn't much to look at, other than an endless expanse of trees, but to the direct left of him, there seemed to be a small path. It didn't look well used, but any path would suffice just as long as he got out of this place. _

  
  


_ It was unfortunate that he wasn't wearing any shoes or socks, because the journey took far longer than he would have preferred. Just the walk over to the path took him 5 minutes, then an extra 2 when he accidentally stepped on a rock and had to sit down and nurse his poor foot. _

  
  


_ Eventually he made it to the path, and slowly navigated his way down it. The path had looked pretty narrow from a distance, but when he was actually walking it, he didn't even know if he could classify it as a path. _

  
  


_ It could only fit one small person at a time, such that Hiccup had to occasionally shuffle sideways to avoid being cut by the sharp tree branches and bushes. It sloped sharply upwards at some points, so Hiccup had to use his hands and feet to climb, and at other points, it was like a very unpleasant and dangerous slide. By the end of those, Hiccup had already said goodbye to his pants several times. _

  
  


_ Hiccup was starting to doubt that the path would actually get him out, as he had already been walking for at least 20 minutes, and there was no change in the scenery that would indicate upcoming freedom. _

  
  


_ The path only seemed to get smaller, and the trees seemed to only be getting bigger. He was covered in cuts and scratches, and he was kind of tired, although not as tired as he would have expected considering all the random physical activity. _

  
  


_ He had finally reached some flat, even ground when he felt something cold on his bare shoulder, then another, then another. He looked up only to realize that it was snowing. And he was only wearing a tank top. Great. _

  
  


_ Even if it wasn't even December yet, and winter hadn't even started, the snow still came. The snowflakes were fat, and looked more like clumps than individual flakes. They came down hard, the wind rapidly picking up speed, shaking the trees and ripping the leaves off their branches.  _

  
  


_ Hiccup sped up his pace, going as fast as his legs could carry him across the bumpy path. The snow was unreal, piling up faster than he could blink. If he stayed out here too long, he would be buried. _

  
  


_ He leaped over a tree root and ducked under a branch, took a sharp turn around a huge boulder, narrowly avoiding his right arm being sliced by its sharp edge. _

  
  


_ The forest started to change shape, the trees becoming shorter, their branches less gnarly and more smooth and pleasant. There were less rocks and roots, they were instead replaced by small bushes and frosted logs. _

  
  


_ The snow kept coming faster and faster, and soon Hiccup was surrounded by pure white. In the back of his mind he thought it odd that the snow couldn’t pile up so quickly, but all thoughts flew from his mind as soon as he caught sight of the majestic log cabin ahead of him.  _

  
  


_ It was at least 30 feet tall, and more than 40 feet wide. The logs were a beautiful dark beige colour, crafted together to make up the most amazing structure Hiccup had ever seen. There was a huge triangular arch leading to the massive dark brown oak wood door(and yes, Hiccup knew it was oak wood. He was, what you might call, a wood expert). Above the leading archway there were windows that spanned that whole section straight to the top, only broken up by a balcony, and eventually the roof.  _

  
  


_ The section to the right of Hiccup seemed to be the main part of the cabin, for it had a menacingly large stone fireplace attached to the side. Santa would have absolutely no trouble fitting through that. From what Hiccup could see through the snow, there was a balcony that spanned that whole front side, and the roof jutted out to cover it. Directly under the balcony, there seemed to be some sort of lounge space, with wooden tables and cushioned chairs and a mini fire pit in the centre of it all. _

  
  


_ Strangely enough, the furniture was free of snow, even if the wind was blowing hard enough that it could have easily reached them from the area they were placed. Again, Hiccup brushed that off. Sometimes snow does strange things. He’s not a scientist, he doesn't know how these things work. _

  
  


_ The section to the left of Hiccup was the simplest of the three, with an indoor garage(that was closed at the moment, obviously) on the bottom, and a balcony attached to the side, with the same jutting roof. It was hard to see more than those basic details with all the snow still falling. _

  
  


_ Hiccup walked up to the door and examined it for a quick second. It was simple, with a basic four pane style, and a circular window at the top, that was just a bit too high for Hiccup to look through. There was also a peephole in the middle, but when he tried to look through it, all he saw was darkness.  _

  
  


_ He decided that the best thing to do would be to just knock and see if anyone was home. To be honest, he probably should have gotten hypothermia by now, having been in the cold for that long(he knocked on the door as quickly as possible after that. Like, he’s not superstitious or anything but….just to be safe). _

  
  


_ There was no response, so Hiccup knocked again, and when there still wasn’t a sound, he tried the doorknob. Surprisingly, the door opened. It’s not something he would do typically, breaking into someone else's home, but what choice did he have? And if the door was already unlocked, he wasn’t the only one to blame. _

  
  


_ He pushed the door open more and cautiously stepped inside, closing it behind him. The entryway was dark, almost pitch black. He could faintly make out a doorway a little ahead of him to the right, and a staircase just beyond that, but everything else was out of his grasp.  _

  
  


_ He started to scan the walls to the right and left of him for a light switch, mostly just running his hands all over them in hopes of hitting something. He slowly walked forward, turning his head side to side and touching up the walls. He had almost made it to the doorway when his hand caught on something.  _

  
  


_ He quickly flipped the switch, excited to finally be able to escape the permeating darkness. The room filled with a bright golden glow from a decorative set of blue bell shaped lights on the ceiling. Hiccup shielded his eyes and blinked rapidly while his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden change in brightness. _

  
  


_ Suddenly, there was a sort of thump from upstairs. It wasn’t very loud, and normally he might not have noticed it, but his sense were on a higher alert being in a strange place, and any sound not made by him was caught immediately.  _

  
  


_ Hiccups heart started to beat faster in his chest, and his breathing got just that bit quicker. There  _ **_was_ ** _ someone in the house.  _

  
  


_ The thump happened again, and then again, and then again, like an ongoing beat. The person was walking. Hiccup jumped into high alert, and looked around for a place to hide. Most likely the person didn’t know he was here; if he stayed out of sight, he could camp out until the snow stopped then sneak back out. If they caught him though…...well, this cabin seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. No one to hear him scream(if they happened to be some crazy psychopath that got off on the sight of human blood. Otherwise, he’d probably just go to jail for breaking and entering. Or just entering.) _

  
  


_ Hiccup dashed into the small doorway and found himself in a study of some sorts. There was a simple desk with a cushy looking swivel chair behind it. Directly behind was a bookshelf that took up the whole wall. It was very impressive, but what Hiccup was more interested in was the closed door to the left of it. The thumps were getting louder, and now they were right above his head, heading toward the stairs. _

  
  


_ Quickly but silently, he padded over to the door and pulled it open, only to be met with the most pleasant sight. A closet. It didn’t have much in it, just a few coats and sweaters, which he noticed all seemed to be masculine in style. _

  
  


_ He shut the door behind him and sat as far back in the closet as he could, facing the door. He gathered the coats up right in front of him and curled up as much as he could, for once cursing his long legs and muscular shoulders, hoping that the sparse amount of clothing could provide him some cover. _

  
  


_ He leaned his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes, forcing his heart to slow down and listening for the footsteps. They seemed to have stopped. Hiccup sighed. They were probably just going to the bathroom or something. They didn’t even know he was here. Best to just relax and wait a few hours for the snow to stop. _

  
  


_ Moments passed before something alarming happened. Hiccup heard knocking on the closet door. Time seemed to stop while his heart was beating a mile a minute. The knocking continued, and he soon realized it was some sort of beat, which was soon accompanied by soft humming. He was almost horrified to realize he recognized the song. It was ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ one of his all time winter favourites. _

  
  


_ The knocking and humming continued, Hiccup getting more unnerved each passing second. Unless the person randomly decided to knock out a beat on this closet door and sing to themselves, they knew he was in there, and only psychopaths did creepy ish like that. The humming did sound quite pretty, but knowing that some random stranger was doing it, and most likely planning to kill him in the next minute or so, kind of put him off from it. Just a bit.  _

  
  


_ The song was coming to a close, which only caused Hiccup to get more scared. There were even tears streaking his cheeks now. He was confident that he was going to die. There was no other possible outcome to the situation. Honestly, he would have rather stayed outside and frozen to death. _

  
  


_ As the song was coming to a close, the knocking got more enthusiastic(aggressive) and the singing got louder(crazier), until it was finally time for the last line. If the humming wasn’t creepy enough, the man decided to sing the last line. “Oh, baby it’s co~ld o~utsi~de” _

  
  
_ For a split second, Hiccup realized that he recognized that voice, before the door was thrown open and the jackets were thrust aside, and he was stuck staring into bright blue eyes. _


	19. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys.........................It's been three months. Just......I have no words for how sorry I am so.........just please accept my sincere apologies and this chapter. I am currently in the process of writing chapter 18, so it should be up by the end of tomorrow......hopefully. I really do hope.

 

 

Hiccup shot up in his bed, his heart feeling like it was about to beat out of his chest. For a few seconds he just sat there trying to calm himself down. His room was almost completely dark, with only a sliver of moonlight coming in from a crack in his curtains to light it. 

 

 

He glanced around through bleary, half opened eyes and located his phone on his bedside table. He lazily reached for it, and almost pushed it off the table with all of his aimless groping, but he managed to bring it up to his face and press the on button, which turned out to be a stupid idea since he nearly blinded himself. No matter how low the brightness on his phone was, it was still too bright, as evident by the colour spots dotting the back of his eyelids.

 

 

After a couple seconds, when the colours became more muted, he slowly pried his eyes open to glance at his screen once more before it backed out and he had to start the gruesome process over again. It read 3:31, meaning he had only been asleep for roughly 4 hours, no where near the amount he needed to properly function. 

 

 

So, he reached out to put his phone back on the bedside table, squinting at the fact that it seemed like the phone was shaking, which would mean his hand was shaking, which would be weird, so it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him. His eyes which were already growing heavy as he laid back back down in bed and closed his eyes, wondering why he had even woken up in the first place.

 

 

Just as soon as his eyes closed they opened again, and he sprang back up so fast he felt dizzy.

 

 

The dream.

 

Somehow it had completely slipped his mind after he calmed down from the shocking ending, but that dream…...it was strange. Originally, he had written it off as a nightmare, as only a nightmare could shock him awake and make him feel so unnaturally afraid. 

 

But when he thought back on the dream as a whole, he realized only the last 2 minutes(in dream time) could really count as nightmare material. The rest of it was something completely different, something….almost real. 

 

 

As he started to become more awake and aware of his surroundings, he realized that even then, sitting on his bed in the middle of the suburbs, he could  _ feel _ the cold wind on his cheeks and the snowflakes on his bare arms, so tangible he actually shivered. The scent of pine and damp earth lingered in his nose, and if he payed close attention, he could still hear a whisper of that voice. 

 

 

That voice that, now that he thought about it, sang so beautifully, singing those last few words of the song in perfect tune. That voice was familiar, yet foreign, heard, but not listened to. The voice that belonged to the still vivid image of those eyes, those striking bright blue eyes, so bright they looked like they were glowing.

 

 

Those eyes that seemed as if they were looking into his very soul, and the more he thought of them, the more vivid, the more real they became and next thing Hiccup knew, he was stumbling out of bed and over to his desk.

 

 

His fingers were itching with the overwhelming urge to draw those eyes, so he took out his sketchbook and coloured pencils and did just that. He didn’t even bother to turn on the room lights, just flipped on his desk light and honed in on his task. 

 

 

The dream had stirred something deep inside of him, something he didn’t even know was there, something he had no idea what to do with, and the only way he could even begin to understand that feeling was to draw. Which really made no sense if he was being realistic, but, that was what his whole being was telling him to do, so that was what he was going to do.

 

 

As he drew, slowly and carefully, focusing on every specific detail, his feelings towards the dream started to change. He was no longer scared but instead…..curious. He had so many questions all of a sudden, where was that forest, whose cabin was that, why was the door open, who’s voice was that, who’s eyes were those, who were they, where were they, who were they, who were they…….

 

 

His brain was moving speeds too quick to follow, his heart beat increasing along with it, but his hand remained slow and steady, mapping out the image still clear as day, those striking blue eyes.

 

If he was more awake, and if he had had more than 4 hours of sleep, he probably would have been concerned at how quickly things escalated, how fast his brain(and his heart and soul) latched onto the image of those eyes. But as it was, those eyes were the only thing he could think about; there was no room for concern. 

 

 

Hiccup had not looked up from his sketchbook by the time the sun started to peek through his curtains, and even still when the room was so bright he didn’t even need his desk light anymore. Even when his alarm went off, he simply reached out turned it off without looking. In fact, Hiccup did not even glance up from his sketchbook until 9:18 am, approximately 6 hours after he first started drawing.

 

 

His eyes were heavy, dry and crusted from how little he blinked. His neck was like a steel rod, stiff and immovable. His back ached from hunching over for so long, and his stomach was like a raging beast. He was swaying where he sat, as if all the energy and concentration used to complete the drawing was replaced with fatigue unlike any he had ever felt before. 

 

 

His brain had basically shut down, the only thing that he could grasp was those blue eyes. 

 

 

He tried blinking his eyes to focus them, but it seemed his body was past that point. He needed to go back to sleep. 

 

 

And he definitely would. If his brain could just wake up enough to tell his body to move back to his bed. Which didn’t seem like it was gonna happen any time soon.

 

 

He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he sat there, just barely keeping himself upright, when the doorbell rang. 

 

 

If he had the energy, he would have rolled his eyes. Just great.

 

 

Now he would have to move, because there was no way his mother was about to rouse herself from her beauty sleep just to answer the door. And she probably assumed he was already downstairs, as he usually was already up and about at this time.

 

 

Hiccup heaved a deep sigh and ever so slowly brought his hands up to plant them on his desk and push himself up. His arms were almost shaking with the amount of effort it took him, but he was finally standing. 

 

 

He made the mistake of looking down and found himself once again captivated by the image of those blue eyes. It was getting ridiculous at this point, but he really couldn’t help himself. He probably would have been there for another 20 minutes if the bell ringing a second time didn’t snap him out of his reverie.

 

 

He groaned and started his journey again. Every movement took twice the amount of effort and coordination. He almost fell down the stairs twice, and by the time he made it to the door he was ready to just collapse and fall asleep right there on the floor. He hope the person on the other side of the door wasn’t expecting him to speak, because he could barely nod his head right now.

 

 

He tugged open the door was met the blurry image of a man a little taller than him, in what appeared to be a delivery uniform. Hiccup didn’t even have the sense of mind to question what he was doing there, although if he was awake enough, he would have realized that him and his mother never ordered anything.

 

 

The man’s face blurred in and out of his vision, but he appeared to be smiling and his mouth was moving. Oh, he was speaking. Hiccup’s ears appeared to have fallen asleep as well, but he tried to catch some of what this guy was saying with his eyes. Lip reading was just as good as actually hearing right?

 

 

‘Delivery for Mr……………?” He couldn’t really make out the name, but since the dude was standing at his door, he assumed his said either his or his mom’s name, so he just nodded.

 

 

The guys smile grew, and Hiccup just then noticed the clipboard the man held in his hands because it was thrust towards him, along with a pen. Oh yes, a signature. 

 

 

He abandoned the idea of taking the clipboard from the man and just grabbed the pen, squinting his eyes to try and find the line where hi signature was supposed to go. Luckily, the dude had attached a sticky note to the side of the page where the line was, so he didn’t have to look long.

 

 

He messily scrawled his signature on the page, and focused all his attention on getting the pen back into the man’s hands. He had a sneaking suspicion that if he leaned down to pick it up, he wouldn’t be able to get back up.

 

 

The delivery man nodded his head in thanks and turned around, seemingly to leave. Hiccup was confused, as if this guy was supposed to be delivering something, where was the thing that he was delivering?

 

 

His question was answered pretty quickly when the guy, instead of walking back to his delivery truck, which Hiccup noticed was parked at the end of their driveway, simply picked up a long and flat rectangular package which was resting on the bottom step leading up to the door.

 

 

Hiccup eyes widened as he regarded the package, and he blanched when he saw the guy trying to hand it to him. He quickly waved his hands at the space just inside the door and stepped back  bit, trying to indicate that the guy should just put it inside himself. The delivery man simply blinked at him, before depositing the package in the allotted space and waving goodbye. 

 

 

Hiccup managed to muster a small smile before shutting the door and resting his head against it. Finally he could go back to sleep. He swiftly turned around and headed back up the stairs to his room, barely remembering to close the door and shut of his desk light before he dived under the covers and went back to sleep.

 

 

 

 

 


	20. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pancakes! And panic attacks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So guys.................let's just say this story is an update-every-two-months story now, just to be safe

 

 

 

Hiccup stretched his arms above his head and hummed in contentment.  He slowly opened his eyes to see a subdued light flooding into his room, meaning that it was most likely mid to late afternoon. He relaxed under the covers and smiled to himself. He felt so much better now that he was fully rested; His eyes were clear and focused, his thoughts were sharp, and his muscles were actually cooperating with him.

  
  


The only thing that was giving him problems right now was his stomach, which felt like it was trying to eat him to gain some much needed sustenance. 

  
  


Hiccup let out a soft sigh and patted his stomach before gracefully rolling out of his bed and plopping down on the floor on his butt. He laughed to himself and leaned forward to crawl towards the door on all fours. He proceeded to do this all  the way out into the hall, before he leaned back onto his butt and slid himself down the stairs to the last step, where he finally pushed himself up to stand properly.

  
  


The clock said it was 1:50 pm, but it wasn’t as if Hiccup had anywhere to go, so he wasn’t fazed. The only thing he cared about was getting some food in his stomach, right this second. 

  
  


After stepping into the kitchen and looking at all the things they had, it struck him all of a sudden how long it had been since he’d had pancakes. Him and his mother were the only two people in the house, and almost never ate together, so he usually just found himself making something small and simple. Pancakes naturally made so that you had to make a lot, and it was more work than a regular breakfast, so he just never bothered. But now he wanted pancakes.

  
  


Well, when he said pancakes, he didn’t really mean pancakes in the way most people thought of pancakes. It was kind of another one of those things his mom hadn’t told him that he had to figure out himself, but on a lesser scale.

  
  


The pancakes in their house were basically crepes, except not as thin. They didn’t add baking powder to the mix, so they ended up flat and slightly chewy. 

  
  


Maybe it was a result of the fact that he’d eaten those pancakes for most of his life, or it was just his own personal tastes, but Hiccup always preferred those pancakes to the typical overly fluffy ones that are always advertised.  

  
  


He had, on several occasions, tried the conventional pancakes, whether it was at a diner or from a box, but he’d never really developed a taste for them. He could eat them sure, and if they were his only pancake option he would love to have them, but if he had to choose, his flat, chewy ones were always the winner.

  
  


As he starts mixing the batter, takes a chance to look around the kitchen. He’s lived in this house since he was born, which means he’s seen it practically everyday for 22 years, so it’s easy to notice when things start to wear and tear, even a little bit. Like how the sink takes a bit too long to drain, and the draw handle wiggles a bit when he pulls it, and the white paint seems to have couple yellow spots.

Hiccup know the house needs some work. He’s known for years now. He’s just never had the motivation to actually do something about it. Sure, they could call someone in to fix the drain and paint the house, but then they have to have some stranger invading their space, and it would just be a lot more hassle than it’s worth.

  
  


DIY was the best option, although he’d yet to actually  **do** anything.

  
  


Tilting his head in contemplation, he poured a small amount of oil on his already-heated frying pan and grabbed the handle, tilting it around to spread the oil, before grabbing a ladle from the wiggly-handle drawer and scooping a small amount out of batter onto the pan.

  
  


It had become more pressing in the last couple of months, when things became closer and closer to the point of a _ ctually _ falling apart, but still. Self motivation was little hard to come by in this situation, especially since Hiccup knew that there wasn’t really anyone to appreciate the hard work other than himself. He knw his mom didn’t really pay much attention to this kind of stuff, as long as it wasn’t causing her any grief.

  
  


There wasn’t a lot of batter, so after 6 pancakes the bowl was empty. He shut the stove off and quickly washed the bowl and ladle before depositing them in the dish rack. One thing he appreciated about this house was the fact that even though it was quite large and expensive, it didn’t have dishwasher. Not because he loved washing dishes or anything, but even when his father was still around, it was only three people in the house. It would’ve just been a waste.

  
  


Hiccup dried his hands on one of the towels hanging from the oven, and turned around to look in the fridge for the maple syrup. Another thing they’d never been partial to in his house was table syrup. It was way too thick and sticky, and wasn’t healthy in the least. Not like maple syrup was healthy, but it was 100 times better than that artificial stuff. 

  
  


After locating the sam jug in its usual spot on the side edge, he closed the fridge, then grabbed another plate from the cupboard. Although the pancakes were thin, he still couldn’t eat 6 in one sitting. 3 was enough.

  
  


He plated the pancakes, grabbed a fork and the maple syrup, and went to go eat in the living room. Although he usually opted to eat in the dining room, because it gave him a lovely view of the small forest beyond the backyard, sometimes he liked to just enjoy the view of the neighborhood. 

After placing all his things on the short wooden coffee table, Hiccup sat down and grabbed up all three pancakes in one hand, and started ripping them into bite size pieces with the other. It was something he had started doing after cutting it into neat little squares with a knife proved to be too much unnecessary work.

  
  


It was after he’d already drizzled the syrup and started eating did his eyes catch a glimpse of the package by the door. He’d completely missed it on his way to the living room, too caught up in his pancakes to notice, but now that he was seated and glancing around, it was one of the first things to catch his attention.

  
  


It took a few seconds for him to remember what the package was doing there, and even then the fine details were a little fuzzy, considering he was basically asleep while it happened. 

  
  


He contemplated the package as he ate. He knew that it certainly wasn’t something for him, as he hardly ever ordered anything online, and certainly never something this big.

  
  


Of course, the was the possibility someone had sent him something……...yeah right.

  
  


The only other option was that his mother had ordered something. It would have to be, since they were the only two people at this address. 

  
  


Hiccup nodded to himself as he took another bite of his pancakes. His mother ordered things occasionally. Usually it was things for her room, like an inspirational quote on canvas, or a new set of curtains. Stuff she liked that she couldn’t find on her occasional visits to Walmart or HomeSense.

  
  


But……..his eyebrows furrowed. He distantly remembered the man saying a package for ‘Mr’. Which means the package was for a man. Which means it wasn’t for his mother. Which means it was for him. But….it couldn’t be for him. 

  
  


He glanced at the package in confusion, and stuffed the last bite of pancake in his mouth before going over to inspect it. If this package was at their house right now, then there was only one of two options to explain it

  
  


  1. He had some unknown friend or relative who sent him an unreasonably large package for no reason



  
 

     2. They had delivered it to the wrong address

  
  


As he crouched down in front of the package to examine it, he realized that they had in fact, delivered it to the right address. But the wrong person

  
  


In all caps on the front of the package, under his own home address, was the name ‘JACKSON FROST’

 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Having a crush was quite inconvenient, especially when you’re afraid of the person you have  a crush on.

  
  


If you asked him, it should be impossible for you to develop feelings for someone who you can’t even be in the same room without without feeling compelled to scream, or cry, or both. It-it was inconceivable! It was like falling in love with a murderer, after seeing them commit the murder. 

  
  


Everytime he looked at Jack, the first thing that popped into his mind was how terrifying it was that he could control someone with just his voice. But then he remembered his smile and felt a strange warmth in his gut. 

  
  


Hiccup took a deep breath in through his nose, and digested all the different scents in the room, the sweetness of the maple syrup, the muskiness of the couch, the remnants of the burnt edges of the pan he had yet to wash in the kitchen.

  
  


His heightened sense of smell was something he tried not to focus on. It was supposed to be a strength, and in most cases it was. Smelling out a predator, or knowing when it was going to rain. Things that would certainly help in everyday life. Well, except in everyday life a predator is more like an ex that you’re trying to avoid, but anyway.

  
  


For Hiccup it was also a weakness though. Not just for him, but for omegas in general. The scent of an alpha was like an aphrodisiac. Although all the dynamics were human beings, there was also a huge side of them that were animals, and those animas wanted to mate. Every second of every day of their lives. It was quite annoying. 

  
  


Which is why they were programmed to have a deep seated  **need** for their opposite dynamic.  And every time Hiccup got a whiff of an alpha’s scent, he felt that need. And it scared him, that he could feel that affected by just the smell of someone. So he didn’t focus on it.

  
  


But now, with Jack, he was forced to focus soon it. Because apparently, not only did he have a crush on him, his omega side was in love with his scent. 

  
  


It’s not like it was a bad scent. It smelled like crushed pine needles and freshly fallen snow. Like the whisper of cold wind through your nose. But at the same tie, every time he smelt itt, he felt almost like he was wrapped in a warm blanket. 

  
  


Which didn’t really make any sense, considering the smell also brought with it a wave of fear and captivity. Like he was being controlled by it. 

  
  


Hiccup huffed out a breath through his mouth, and brought his legs up to sit cross legged on his couch. None of this was really helping his current situation.

  
  


He had his phone in his hand, and it was open to text messages. It had been that way for about 10 minutes now, and he’d had to tap the screen about that many times to make sure it didn’t shut off.

  
  


After realizing who the package was for, and after getting over his initial shock he had went back upstairs to feed Toothless and grab his phone before returning to the position he was in now. He’d meant to send Jack a text, telling him his package had somehow ended up at Hiccup’s house and that he should come pick it up.

  
  


But then he’d been worried about how to word it. Like, how should he start the message. Should he be like ‘Hi Jack, your package is at my house, you should come pick it up’. But, Jack doesn’t have his number, so he won’t know  who sent him the message. So he should be like ‘Hey, it’s Hiccup, your neighbor, I have something of yours.’ But that sounds suspicious and creepy.

  
  


He had to make sure he worded it properly, because otherwise the situation could become weird. All he wanted was for Jac to come and pick up his package. Nothing more complicated than that. If his text message made it more complicated than that then there would be a problem. Because Jack would end up doing  _ more _ than picking up his package.

  
  


He might ask Hiccup if he could come in, because the text message somehow made him think that Hiccup wanted him to come inside. And then Hiccup would have to deal with the fact that Jack Frost (even his name was attractive) was in his house (because there’s no way Hiccup could say no to that  _ scent _ ), and then maybe they would move to the couch, and Hiccup would sit on one side and Jack on the other, (because there was no way he could let the alpha sit next to him on the couch, that was so  _ dangerous _ ) but then, Jack would start to move closer, and Hiccup would let him because his eyes were just so pretty, and Jack would put a hand on his thigh and Hiccup would feel like throwing up and Jack would put his face so close to Hiccup’s that he could feel his breath hitting his face and those  **eyes** would look straight into his and-

  
  


And Hiccup’s eyes shot wide open from when they’d somehow closed, and he realized those eyes, not the one’s in his daydream which were Jack’s eyes, but the ones in his nightmare-but-not-nightmare that kept him up until 9:18 am. The ones that were so familiar. Because they were the **same** as the ones in his daydream because they were **Jack’s eyes**. 

  
  
  


And then his heart almost jumped out of his chest as Pharrell's Freedom started blaring from his phone. And then he swore he actually saw his heart jump out of his chest when the caller ID read Jack.

  
  


He was wiping the accept ca button before he could stop hisf, but when he held the phone up to his ear, he couldn’t actually bring himself to say anything.

  
  


Luckily, Jack spoke first.

  
  


“Hic-hiccup, hi, I’m sorry to c-call you, I know, we don’t even know each other a-and you obviously don’t really like me, n-not that that’s any of my business or anything cause we don’t know each other, so you don’t have to like me, but” Jack took a pause in his rambling to take a few hyperventilating breaths, “but I’m kind of loc-locked in my basement, I didn’t even know I had a basement, but I’m locked in and I don’t have anyone else’s number and I’m really sorry but, I, I just, I, I really...need...your help.”

 

Hiccup was on his feet and out the door before Jack had even mentioned his basement. Al bet, his knees were knocking together, but at least he was on his way.

 

 


	21. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this chapter doesn't even really further the story much, but I gave MYSELF feels at the end, I don't even know why, that paragraph just got me
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

 

 

Jack honestly had no idea how he’d ended up here; locked in his own basement on on the verge of a full blown panic attack.

  
  


It was almost funny because until about an hour ago, he didn’t even know he had a basement, but here he was, locked in it. 

  
  


It really wasn’t his fault though. He’d woken up that morning, had breakfast, then sat around reading and waiting for his package to come. When it didn’t show up by 12:00, he’d gotten bored and started going around the house and emptying boxes he’d left sitting around.

  
  


Eventually he came across a couple of boxes that were full of miscellaneous items; Christmas decorations, sports accessories, old backpacks, etc. Stuff that he wouldn’t be needing for sometime that would just make the house look cluttered. So he went in search of place to put it all.

  
  


When he stumbled upon the door near the back of the house, he assumed it was just another closet. The stairs on the other side of it begged to differ. 

  
  


He’d flipped the light switch on the side and a dim light came on from down the stairs and illuminated a small dusty room. It became evident to Jack that the previous owners hadn’t cared for the basement at all, and the person who sold it to him hadn’t been aware of it. Otherwise, he was sure they would have at least swept it once or twice. He was glad he didn’t have any allergies, he probably would have choked on his own sneezes by now. 

  
  


There was dust floating all over the place, and a funky smell in the air, so Jack had closed the door behind him to prevent it from seeping into the rest of the house. The dim light had shown a lone window on the far wall with a piece of cardboard over it, so he’d intended on opening and airing out the room a bit. 

  
  


However on closer inspection, he realized the ‘piece of cardboard’ was actually a piece of plywood that was nailed into the wall, completely covering the window and preventing him from opening it. 

  
  


Initially, he’d shrugged it off, resolving to come down later with some tools and remove it. But after shuffling around a bit and taking in the room, the overhead light had started flickering strangely. Jack had looked up in alarm and started for the stairs just a couple of seconds before the light went out completely, plunging the room into darkness. 

  
  


His heart leapt into his throat as the room seemed to shrink by three sizes just from the change in lighting. He sped up his pace, silently thanking the previous owners for not leaving anything behind as he couldn’t even see his own hand in front of his face, let alone some random clutter a foot in front of him. 

  
  


When his shins finally bumped into the bottom step of the set of stairs, he quickly hurried to climb them and reach the door, which he tried to twist the knob of. Quote ‘tried’. 

  
  


The knob wouldn’t budge. 

  
  


He twisted and jerked it with all of his might but still, the knob would not move. It didn’t make any sense, because he knew he hadn’t locked it, he didn’t even have the key.

  
  


Hie breathing started to pick up as the reality of the situation dawned on him. 

  
  


He was locked in.

  
  


Jack’s throat tightened and his eyes watered as he turned around and ran back down the stairs towards the window, desperation taking the place of reason. Logically, he knew the plywood couldn’t be removed with his bare hands, but in his mind the only thought was that he  _ had to get out. _

 

As his efforts proved fruitless, he sank down to the floor and put his head in his hands, focused on his breathing, and trying to stave off the panic attack he knew was coming. 

  
  


That’s where he found himself, minutes later, trying to humorize the situation but ultimately knowing it was fruitless. There was nothing he could do to make it better, he was a victim to his own mind. 

  
  


His mind which was currently trying to convince him he was somewhere he wasn’t, with someone who wasn’t there, feeling something he hadn’t felt in almost half a year. 

  
  


His heart was pounding so hard and fast it was almost painful, he could feel a cold sweat starting to develop on his face and back, causing his shirt and hair to stick to him. 

  
  


He was being transported back to a different place and time, a time when he slightly younger, slightly less mature,, and wholly unprepared for what was happening.

  
  


He was starting to lose himself to the illusion, beginning to believe that what he was seeing and feeling was truthful, starting to see it as the present rather than the past.

  
  


The only thing that brought him slightly out of it was the buzzing of his phone in his pocket. Jack felt his spirits lifting just a tiny bit as he pulled it out of his pocket, thinking he could use it as a flashlight to add just a bit of light to the room, to cam his nerves a bit.

  
  


But his frown returned full force when he took in the notification telling him that his phone was at 5% percent and that he needed to charge it. He cursed himself out loud as he realized he’d forgotten to plug it in earlier that day when he’d gotten the 15% notification, and was now unable to do turn on the flashlight, as that would kill the battery in two seconds flat.

  
  


The tears that had been on the verge of spilling over took that as their cue to run down his face at that moment as he took in the irony of the situation. He had a phone, but could do nothing with it except for calling someone, but he didn’t have the number of anyone that would be able to help him in this situation.

  
  


He could call 911, but could this really be considered an emergency? It would just be a waste of their time, not to mention utterly embarrassing for him.

  
  


No, he really had nothing and no one right now. He woefully scrolled through his contact list while clenching his fist, just trying to distract himself from the thoughts that were slowly creeping their way back in.

  
  


All of a sudden, his eye caught a contact that made his eyes widen, and his thumb abruptly stopped his screen from scrolling. He felt his lips twitch up in an attempt smile.

  
  


**Rude Neighbor**

  
  


He remembered when he’d found Hiccup’s phone, and as an afterthought copied his number into his own phone just in case he ever needed to get in contact with him. Mentally, he gave himself a pat on the back as he hastily clicked the call button, before holding the phone to his war as well as holding his breath.

  
  


The chances that Hiccup would actually pick up the phone when he saw it was Jack calling were very low. Jack had gathered very quickly that the guy had a problem with people, specifically alphas. He had no idea where the fear had come from, but he had no doubt the idea of an alpha calling him was nowhere near pleasant for him. He just hoped he could find it somewhere within himself to at least listen to Jack’s desperate plea for help.

  
  


The phone had barely rung a full time before it was picked up, but Jack didn’t even take the time to dwell on that fact before he was spewing out whatever came to mind that he thought could somehow convince the person on the other end to help him.

  
  


“Hic-hiccup, hi, I’m sorry to c-call you, I know, we don’t even know each other a-and you obviously don’t really like me, n-not that that’s any of my business or anything cause we don’t know each other, so you don’t have to like me, but” Jack took a pause in his rambling to take a few hyperventilating breaths, “but I’m kind of loc-locked in my basement, I didn’t even know I had a basement, but I’m locked in and I don’t have anyone else’s number and I’m really sorry but, I, I just, I, I really...need...your help.”

  
  


His voice was shaky and choked, and he could hardly understand himself but he hoped that Hiccup at least heard the gist of it.

  
  


There was some shuffling and the distant sound of feet scraping the pavement, before he heard the unmistakable sound of Hiccup’s soothing timbre, causing Jack to quickly bring a hand up to his mouth to try and smother the sound of the sob that escaped his throat from the deep seated  _ feeling  _ that voice caused. That simple sentence that made his frantically beating heart start to calm, that brought him so much comfort in his time of need, even though he hadn’t really known the owner for more than a few days. Those few words spoke not to his ears or his brain or even his heart, but to his  **soul** .

  
  


_ “Don’t worry, I’m on my way.” _

 

 

 


	22. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys.......it's been three and a half months  
> But I technically have a reason!
> 
> I moved!!!!!  
> Yup, that's right, I moved from Toronto, Canada, to John's Creek, Georgia!!!
> 
> And it was really complicated and really stressful and really last minute, and it happened on September 25, so its only been 2 months, and settling in has been kinda hard since we only moved into our own house 3 weeks ago, and its just a really long story you don't care about
> 
> So yeah, that's one of the reasons it's taken so long, but I really have been trying to write, it's just that the thoughts in my head don't translate into words well, so it takes me a really long time just to write one paragraph. 
> 
> But anyway, here is the long overdue Chapter 20, and for fun, comment down below where you live/where you're from! 
> 
> Enjoy!!

 

 

Hiccup wasn’t thinking. He wasn’t thinking about the fact that the young man on the other end of the phone was an **alpha** , an alpha that was asking him to _enter his home_ , something Hiccup never in his entire life thought he would do. He wasn’t thinking about the fact that in his 22 years of life, he had never had a full conversation with an alpha besides his own father, and at the time was only a toddler. He wasn’t thinking about the possibility that this whole thing was just a ploy to get him alone in Jack’s house with his guard lowered. No, Hiccup wasn’t thinking about any of that.

  


The only thing that registered in Hiccup’s brain was how _scared_ Jack sounded.

  


The amount of raw fear contained in Jack’s choked words and trembling breaths shook him to his core. There wasn’t anything else on his mind then to _help_ to _heal_ to _hold_.

  


The way Jack was practically begging for Hiccup to help him basically forced the reassuring words out of his mouth, the need to comfort overriding his brain to mouth filter.

  


Honestly, it should have scared him how quick he jumped into action when he heard Jack’s literal plea for help. He’d spent so much time convincing himself that he didn’t feel it, he didn’t want it, he didn’t need it, he’d forgotten to condition himself against what _Jack_ felt, what _Jack_ wanted, what _Jack_ needed, which ultimately turned out to be his weakness.

  


It was easy to deny himself, because he’d spent his whole life being denied. Denied a father figure, denied a sibling relationship, denied a best friend, denied a normal life, denied the _reason_ for not getting a normal life.

  


It was only natural that he took over the role of his parent and started denying things himself. Denying himself a job, denying himself independence, and denying himself a relationship.

  


Before, that last one was easy; he never interacted with people anyway, so there was no opportunity for a relationship. He couldn’t deny himself something he couldn’t have. But then, Jack had showed up. And all of a sudden it wasn’t about him anymore.

  


Something that sounded like a sob muffled into someone’s hand came through the phone, and Hiccup felt a physical pain in his heart. He increased his pace until he was practically running, Jack’s pain fueling the fire of his protective instinct.

  


It was immensely relieving to find that the door was unlocked, because he was certain that in his state of urgency he wouldn’t have hesitated to break it down. Considering the fact that Jack had literally just moved in, adding another expense to the for sure mile long one he probably already had wasn’t the best idea.

  


Hiccup could still hear Jack’s muffled sobs on the other end, and he knew that Jack wasn’t in a good state right now, but he had no idea how to navigate the man’s house.

  


“Jack, hey, can you hear me?” The tenderness and care in his own voice surprised him, but then again, all his reactions to Jack were surprising.

  


He heard Jack take a couple of deep breaths and clear his throat, before he responded. “Yeah, I...I can hear you. I, um, do you-” Jack cut himself off with a whimper “I’m sorry-Hiccup I, can you- _please I can’t-_ ”

  


“Hey hey, shh Jack, I’m coming, okay. Everything’s gonna be fine” Hiccup quickly tried to calm Jack down after it became apparent to him that the grip Jack had on his panic was slipping quickly. It was also obvious to him that Jack was suffering from some very severe claustrophobia. It wasn’t common for someone to dissolve into a full blown panic attack after being locked in a dark room. Sure they might be scared, but their fear would never escalate as quickly as Jack’s did.

  


Hiccup kept speaking to Jack as he navigated the house, just randomness to try to keep Jack focused on Hiccup’s voice instead of the situation that was causing him so much grief. It proved to be fruitless though, because even after Hiccup’s assurances, Jack continued to get worked up until all Hiccup could hear through the phone was the sound of his choked gasps.

  


Hiccup’s actions turned frantic, ripping open any door he could find to try and locate the basement, cursing himself when he stumbled upon yet _another_ closet. The frustration and desperation he was feeling was overwhelming, as were the persistent thoughts that kept popping up in his mind, _insisting_ that Jack was dying, even though he knew that that wasn’t true. Jack wasn’t dying, he was just finding it a bit hard to breath. Of course Jack wasn’t dying, even though those short gasps physically could not be delivering the proper amount of oxygen to his brain. Jack was not dying just because Hiccup could hear him choking on every intake-

  


The knob didn’t turn.

  


Hiccup looked down at his hand which was wrapped around the knob of one of the last doors that Hiccup had to check. A knob which didn’t budge when Hiccup tried to turn it.

  


His heart leapt into his throat, and he quickly knocked on the door to try and alert Jack of his presence. “Jack, did you hear that? I’m right outside the door okay, I’m gonna get you out of there in no time, but I need you to breath for me okay? I don’t want to open this door and find you passed out, you have to breath.”

  


Jack made a noise that sounded a bit like okay, and he started to cough and wheeze in a regulated pattern, so Hiccup assumed he’d heard his instructions and went to look for something to open the door with.

  


In the current situation, it would probably be best to try and open it with the least amount of drama possible, so breaking the entire door off its hinges was not an option, plus no matter how strong Hiccup ~~knew~~  thought he was, there was no way he could do that.

  


So, the next best thing was just breaking off the knob, so he could manipulate the parts from the inside. The mechanism was obviously faulty, so he most likely would just have to pull the thing out, or smash it.

  


Jack’s breathing was getting better, so Hiccup felt a lot better about leaving the door behind to head back to the kitchen, which he remembered seeing at the front of the house.  If it were any other time, he probably would have smiled to himself at the little tidbits of ‘Jack’ that were set about the house; photos in handmade frames, simple paintings with ‘Jamie Bennett’ signed on the bottoms, a tiny stuffed tiger exactly the same as the huge one he’d seen Jack cuddling. It was all so cute and homey, so different from his own home, even though he’d lived there his whole life, and Jack had literally just moved in a week ago. It really was testament to how different the two of them were, from their biology to the color of their walls.

  


Once he reached Jack’s kitchen, he attacked it like a tornado, ripping open drawers and cupboards in the hopes of finding anything that could break the doorknob off. After making a thorough mess of everything, and promising himself he would clean it up as soon as Jack was in the right headspace, he finally had his weapon of choice; a meat mallet. It wasn’t the most conventional tool to use to break open a door, but then again, he didn’t have all the time in the world to run to a store and find a door breaker, so this would have to do.

  


“Okay Jack, you’re just about out okay? Keep breathing for me, that’s it, slow and steady. Okay, I’m gonna hang up the phone now but I will be there with you before you know it. Be strong for me Jackie.” At this point, Hiccup had stopped wasting his time with the preamble. He cared about Jack, and he didn’t give a damn what was coming out of his mouth at the moment. All that mattered was getting that door open, and getting Jack into his arms. He sprinted all the way to that basement door, and freaking _wailed_ on it with that meat mallet like it was a pinata full of gold. The knob never stood a chance.

  


In 7 seconds flat, the knob was on the floor, and Hiccup reached inside the newly revealed hole in the door to jiggle the lock open. The door swung inward to a basement swathed in darkness, with a staircase visible about a foot in front of him. 

  


“Jack, where are you? Can you see me?” He calls out into the darkness, and starts to take a step forward before he hears the sound of footsteps running up the stairs towards him. He squints his eyes and tries to see, but he only catches a glimpse of Jack’s head before it’s buried in his chest, strong arms wrapping his waist in a tight grip.

  


There’s a moment when his entire locks up, his arms frozen stiff at his side, his nose stuck buried in the soft hairs on the top of Jack’s head. Warning signals are going off in his body, screaming at him that he was getting captured, that Jack was dangerous, that he should be fighting tooth and nail to get away. They’re so prominent, and Jack’s scent is filling his nose and muddling his brain, and everything is so confusing and maybe it’s better if he just runs away so he doesn’t have to deal with all of these _feelings_ -

  


And then Jack takes a shuddering breath that catches on the inhale, and chokes out a sob that sounds like, “I’m sorry.”

  


Like a woosh of crisp winter air, all the worries and thoughts are swept out of Hiccup’s head, and he brings his arms up to embrace Jack, one around Jack’s upper back, and the other coming to rest at the back of his head, and whispers softly, “It’s okay, everything’s fine, you’re safe with me.”

  


Jack’s body molds into his, his sobs muffle into Hiccup’s shirt, and Hiccup vows to hold him, just like this, until the very last sob leaves his mouth, the very last shudder wracks through his body, and the very last tear dries.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing about Alphas and Omegas and Betas and whatever, so it might be a little weird. But I study a lot, if you know what I mean, so it should clean itself up.


End file.
